LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 




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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




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MY LIFE 



—IS AN— 



Open Book. 




BY *</ 

Chaplain 0:0. Mullins, 

25 U. S. Infantry, 
In Clmrge of Education in the Army. 




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l£,- ST. LOUIS: 

JOHN BURNS, PuBLisHEE. 
1883. 



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Copyrighted, 1883, 
By JOHN BURNS. 



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Td the Memary pf 






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The ELDQITENT BDY PREilCHER of the 



CHRISTIilN CHURCH, 



Sdihe saidj ^' Jnlm print it/' 
Dthers said, " 'NdX sd j " 
Sdeqe said; '^It miglit da goad/' 
Dthers said; ^^Na,'^ 

—B "liny an. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
Right Estimate of Life 17 

CHAPTER II. 
Man— The Book Maker . 26 

CHAPTER III. 
Parentage 37 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Boy at School 50 

CHAPTER V. 
The Worm-Eaten Pulpit 64 

CHAPTER VI. 
His Early Preaching 76 

CHAPTER VII. 

Address by Berty Stover, at a Christmas Festival in 

THE Christian Church, Ladoga, Dec. 24th, 1872 . 88 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Love and Ruby Rollins 97 

xiii 



XIV CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IX. 
Preaching Jesus 107 

CHAPTER X. 

COLOEADO . . . . - 115 

CHAPTER XI. 
The Opelet . . • 127 

CHAPTER XII. 
Golden, Colorado ]36 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Virtus in Arduis 157 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Spiritism 166 

CHAPTER XV. 
Heart-Cries — Letters . . . . . . . 173 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Letter to Mrs. Hill, and Her Noble Reply . . 183 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Last Days 192 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Tribute of Respect to the Memory of Berty G. Stover 204 

CHAPTER XIX. 
In Memoriam 209 



CONTENTS. XV 

CHAPTER XX. 

Outline History of the Church of Christ in America 215 

CHAPTER XXI. 

A Study of the Reformation 219 

, CHAPTER XXII. 
The Faith of the Disciples 229 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
The Pastor 245 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
The Lord's Supper . 258 

CHAPTER XXV. 
Marriage and Divorce 268 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
Waste of Intellect . . . . " . . . . 280 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
Is There a Hell? 292 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 
Organic Union 301 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
Thanksgiving Address 313 



CHAPTER I. 



RIGHT ESTIMATE OF LIFE. 

*' We live in deeds, not years ; in thoughts, not breaths ; 
In feelings, not in figures on a dial. 
We should count time by heart throbs. He most lives 
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best. 
Life is but a means unto an end — that end. 
Beginning, mean and end to all things — God !" — Bailey. 

We never look for any great quantity of fruit from a 
young tree: The apples may be large and mellow, but 
they will be few in number. 

Hence, in order to fill our barrels and bins for winter 
use, we drive our wagons to the old gnarled trees of the 
orchard. They have lived through a half century ; they 
wear many a scar ; and the clubs and stones lodged in 
the branches, show that they have had rough treatment ; 
but with their long roots, huge trunks, sturdy boughs, 
and millions of leaves — they gather from year to 3^ear 
enormous stores of the crude material from which to 
make blossoms and fruit. 

And yet, it is among the green branches of the young 
tree that we search for the largest and juciest apples. 

And so it is with men : It generally requires long 
years and a broad experience to produce any very fruit- 
ful life. 

2 (17) 



18 RIGHT ESTIMATE OF LIFE. 

On this account, so far from expecting important deeds, 
or notable manifestations of wisdom and goodness from 
the young, most people fail to suspect that there may be 
anything in a youthful life worth being written and read. 

It never occurs to them that genius wedded to virtue 
may unblushingly claim commanding prowess and dig- 
nity for its offspring ; that genius may sometimes over- 
leap and set at nought the ordinary necessities of time, 
rule and patronage ; and in fulfilling its destined mission, 
may crowd the drama of a generation into the space of a 
few years. 

In every department of human activity, some of the 
most illustrious of heroic names are of men who won 
immortality while they were still young. 

Indeed, careful search among the folios of biography 
discovers that the majority of great men thought their 
best thoughts, and did their mightest works in early life. 

Customs and institutions are hallowed by years, and 
paintings are clothed with richness by old age ; but it is 
not necessarily so with man, else time would be the 
most considerable factor in his history. In that case 
life should not be analyzed, but duration of existence 
only measured. 

Then, the brown and hoary rock of paleozoic ages 
would be an object of more venerable interest than any 
man that ever lived ; then, the old Lombardy poplar 
which never gave even a seed to a sparrow, but — 

" Which solemnly stands, 
And with deedless hands 
Piously points to heaven ! " 

would be a more precious thing than the sweet memory 



RIGHT ESTIMATE OF LIFE. 19 

of the woman whose busy hand planted it long ago to 
adorn the gateway of her new home. 

Time should bring to every one the chastened pru- 
dence and goodness of instructive experience ; should 
dispel the throttling spirit of diffidence, and impart a 
manly self-reliance ; but, to many it brings an obstinacy 
of opinion and an arrogance of authority — to which they 
have purchased no right : and it is about impossible for 
such indurated and self-luminous people ever to grow 
either in knowledge or in grace. 

Nature reveals her secrets most unreservedly to those 
who woo her with humblest entreaty ; while she coldly 
frowns upon the proud andoverwise, and defiantly hides 
her charms from their sight. 

It is not the mind of the old, but the mind of the 
young that is quickest to interpret the strange whisper- 
ings heard everywhere in the physical world; and it is 
not the eye of the critic, but the child heart that discerns 
most clearly spiritual truth ;• that sees most vividly 
mirrored in the Bible that superlative miracle, the image 
of the Son of God. 

Furthermore, a little child's heart may be, and alas ! 
sometimes is, a very Garden of Gethsemane where a 
mortal in crying anguish sweats great drops of blood; 
or it may be a wilderness battle field, to which angels in 
pity and admiration troop unseen to bless and crown a 
moral hero, of whom the world knows not. 

Such truthful reflections ought to superinduce a more 
philosophical and humane treatment of the young ; and 
should at least awaken respectful inquiry concerning 
the wants and unasserted claims of those who display 
talents and energy of superior order. 



20 RIGHT ESTIMATE OF LIFE. 

Notwithstanding its splendid progress in the paths of 
science and civilization, our age — strange to say, has 
hardly glanced at the study of that nondescript creature, 
the hoy. 

However it may be explained, certainly no apology can 
be offered for the damaging if not fatal neglect. 

Boys cannot be studied, and in turn adequately taught 
and trained if regarded as one homogeneous mass of 
human beings ; and that system of education alone can 
be eminently successful which singles out the individual, 
and treats him as though a separate and important genus 
in himself. 

Such was the manner of education among the Romans 
of the Augustan age ; and in the wonderful literary monu- 
ments of the greatest minds of that period, we find grate- 
ful acknowledgments of the wisdom and love which 
deemed each one in his youth worthy the personal watch- 
care and instruction of some able master. 

Rome was quick too, to recognize and encourage with 
helpful honors any youth of extraordinary talents and 
high aspirations. 

She eagerly made use of the rich materials which 
nature lavished upon her ; and from them realized those 
incomparable productions, which have been treasured 
near two thousand years as models for the whole world. 

Unfortunately such beneficent and discriminating wis- 
dom is now little known among men. 

In our generation, a youth may possess the finest native 
intellect, he may be a novel, and exquisitely complicated 
masterpiece — evidently fashioned for some great and 
special purpose ; nevertheless he must pass through the 
same invariable discipline as the multitude ; and at 



RIGHT ESTIMATE OP LIFE. 21 

school must scramble to procure his mental porridge 
from the common class bowl of everlasting Pythagorean 
beans. 

Having run far ahead of his fellows, should he dare 
come forth with clear eye, strong arm, and unconven- 
tional sling to undertake great things for God and 
humanity, — not all men will hail him with delight, — and 
few will cheer him on. 

It may be that his own brethren will deride his girlish 
cheeks, cruelly exaggerate every semblance of mistake, 
and with pious regret cast a darkly ominous horoscope 
of his future career. 

If he protest and rebel ; if he question the infallibility 
of those who have made for themselves papal caps; if he 
modestly suggest that possibly the fathers left some 
veins of truth undiscovered, immediately some would be 
Bossuet will thunder against him the charge and verdict 
of treason and heresy. 

The popular manner of estimating persons and authori- 
ties is irrational and full of mischief. Men should 
receive consideration for their intrinsic might and worth ; 
and not for their race, or profession, or for the long time 
that they may have existed under the sun. Nor should 
it be thought impossible for one to be truly great, unless 
he may have won renown on the crowded and dusty 
highway of the world. 

Many of the most potent forces of the universe are 
veiled and noiseless. 

History would be more righteous and useful did it 
wander more among quiet rural scenes, and oftener visit 
the humble homes of the simple people ; did it take more 
pictures of childhood life, and note with thoughtful sym- 



22 RIGHT ESTIMATE OP LIFE 

pathy the condition, hopes, dreams, trials and merito- 
rious efforts of the young. 

As it is, History is to a deplorable extent evil-minded 
and does not rate nien and things aright. 

The standards of measurement are wrong, and the 
proper tests of worth are not applied to character. 

She hears only the loud sounds, and sees none but the 
garish colors of life. 

She delights most to gather around her the children of 
fashion and vanity, and has a morbid taste for the story 
of violence and blood. 

And in all this, she is true to the prescriptive ethical 
code of worldly society, for what comparatively is the 
silent individual to the noisy crowd, — the ill-clad peas- 
ant to the empurpled prince, — the unsophisticated youth 
to the desperate pretender of high-sounding deeds 1 

Several years ago, in a winter night away out West a 
brave boy volunteered to go fifteen miles across the 
mountains to get medicine for a widow's sick child. 

There were strong rough men there, and all were 
touched with pity, but they shrunk back from the perilous 
undertaking. 

She had no claim upon the boy, save that which some- 
times a great heart freely accords suffering humanity. 

He trudged on through the night, the bitter cold and 
deep snow ; he climbed over jagged peaks, and passed 
through dismal forests of pine ; he delayed not for rest, 
and when a day and night had gone, when the now almost 
crazed mother and some miners of the camp sat in hope- 
less silence near the moaning fever-tossed child — they 
were suddenly startled by a shout in the valley. 

The grand souled boy had returned ! 



RIGHT ESTIMATE OF LIFE. 23 

His whole body ached from the toil and cold ; his face 
and hands were cracked and bleeding, and one poor foot 
was so badly frosted, that he became a limping cripple 
for life. 

But, he got the medicine, and saved the life of the 
little orphan girl. 

A more chivalrous soul than he, old King Arthur never 
dubbed knight of the Round Table ! 

Here indeed, was a character more refreshingly beauti- 
ful than is the rare little plant, sometimes found blooming 
high up on those same mountains with its fragrant blue 
bells dangling above the snow. 

And yet no telegram ever told the nation of his un- 
selfish heroism, and no brilliant assembly tendered him 
an ovation. 

Let some aimless traveler return from wandering 
thousands of miles over the earth ; simply because he 
has visited remote regions, and mayhap can add a 
curious mite of ancient pottery to our collection in the 
museum, we at once hail him with loud enthusiasm, — 
furnish him with a luxurious bath, put soft sandals upon 
his feet, and costly raiment on his body, while we ridic- 
ulously invest his every word with charming interest. 

One of the most incomprehensible mysteries is man's 
poor and perverted conception of the meaning and end of 
life, his blind insensibility to real greatness, and to the 
glory of that soft light, which has been beaming on the 
nation for over eighteen hundred years. 

Under the fatal spell of ignorance and sin he attributes 
to things material and perishing the weighty importance 
that belongs only to things spiritual and eternal. 



24 RIGHT ESTIMATE OF LIFE. 

The writer recently saw in a Mexican roadside en- 
campment an eagle tied with a string to a stake. 

The sight could not be other than intolerable — the 
very genius of freedom in bonds and down in the dust! 

After much persuasion and the gift of a piece of silver, 
the owner was induced to cut the string and allow the 
eagle its liberty. 

Now according to all tradition, the noble bird would 
shake his wings with dignity — gaze for a moment at the 
sky — slowly lift himself up into the air, and after one 
wild scream of joy — at last sweep away for a glorious 
flight miles and miles above the purple hills. 

But that eagle did no such thing : He lazily circled 
about in the air a few times, and then suddenly pounced 
down upon the body of a dead goat. To my disgust 
there he stood groveling in dirt and blood ; but, one 
listening to him delightedly cawing and shrieking over 
his prize, might have supposed that the kingly creature 
had just found an eyrie of gold in the blue mountains of 
the sky. 

In religious fervor it has been exultingly proclaimed 
that " our age longs to be religious ; the multitudes are 
turning their eyes heavenward ; the souls of men cry out 
for God," and we would fain believe it, but after all is 
there not serious cause for thinking that such statements 
are the sanguine assertions of pious optimism ? 

Carefully considering his conduct do we not find a 
thousand proofs, that ''man is of the earth earthy " 
where there is one suggestion that his spirit is seeking 
after God and immortality ? 

And now. Oh ! man, walking through this land of the 
shadow of death, is there aught beside the hope of heaven 



EIGHT ESTIMATE OP LIFE. 25 

to satisfy the infinite longings of the soul ; and can 
human life have any real gladness, or any glory, or any 
sublime end except in the transfiguring beauty of the 
Lord our God ! 

Standing before the blaze of the revelation of Jesus 
Christ what awful yet joyous significance is seen in this 
our life on earth. 

In that light, what profit is there in pretended great- 
ness? What charm has age without wisdom, and emi- 
nence without virtue ? 

What are the years that ripen no precious fruit and 
garner no golden grain ; and what is the life of man or 
woman unless glorified by the faith and hope and love of 
a little child? 

"It is not growing like a tree 
In bulk, doth make men better be ; 
Or standing long an oak, three hundred year, 
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sear. 

A lily of a day 

Is fairer far in May, 

Although it fall and die that night : 

— It was the plant and flower of light." 



CHAPTER II. 



MAN— THE BOOK MAKER. 

" I would gladly, after my death, have that which never 
happened to any other author — all my thoughts given to the 
world ; not one should be concealed." — J. Paul Richter. 

" What thou art in the sight of God, that thou truly art." 

— Thomas A. Kempis. 

There is a quaint Spanish tradition, which relates the 
story of a child, who by sad accident was left upon an 
unpeopled island. 

With its vast plains and forests, its mountains and 
lakes ; its perpetual air of balm, and its indigenous fruits, 
the island might have been a fit home for a nation ; but 
the little boy was the only human being upon all its soil. 

After a few days of bewildering grief, by that rebound 
of feeling natural to children in vigorous health, he 
became submissively accustomed, and in a manner recon- 
ciled to his lonely lot. Hunger and suffering soon 
instinctively aroused him to the work of self-preservation. 
He learned to pluck the delicious fruit that hung in wild 
profusion around him, for food. He had found a small 
cave in the rock near the beach, in which he made for 

himself a bed of dry leaves and grasses. 

(26) 



MAN — THE BOOK MAKER. 27 

He spent the long days in watching the booming waves 
roll up against the shore ; in wandering to gather fruit 
and flowers; in childishly courting the society of the 
animals and beautiful birds that lived in the forests. 
They soon lost their shy timidity, and many of them 
after a while became so strangely fond of his presence 
that they lingered ever about his cave. 

Here in solitude he grew up to rugged manhood ; still, 
ever dreaming vaguely of the great world of men — some- 
where over the waters, he knew not where. 

Although, untutored by men, he was endowed by 
nature with strong intellect ; and from his constant habit 
of talking to himself, to the waves and the sympathetic 
animals ; from deep meditation upon the silent lessons 
of earth and sky, he unconsciously grew to be a philoso- 
pher and poet of rarely brilliant powers. 

** The humblest reed that trembles in the marsh, 
If heaven select it for its instrument, 
May shed celestial music on the breeze, as clearly 
As the pipe — whose virgin gold 
Befits the lips of Phoebus." 

Often would there steal over this isolated being a 
tightly stretched longing to see again the peopled world, 
and the want of human fellowship would at times send 
piteous wails from his heart. He knew nothing of sin, 
of falsehood and cruelty, but the childlike man was full 
of innocence and benevolence. 

At last one morning, after long years, there came a 
ship to the shore, and he fearlessly hastened to reveal 
himself to the crew. At first, somewhat overawed, they 
shrunk back from him ; and gazing upon him in his wild, 



28 MAN — THE BOOK MAKER. 

nude state with curious wonderment, they concluded 
that he was a specimen of some hitherto unknown race 
of savage men. However, by broken speech and rude 
gesture he finally succeeded in making them compre- 
hend his melancholy history. They gladly took him on 
board, and carried him back to the civilized world. Phil- 
osophers, statesmen, poets and priests hailed him as a 
rich discovery, a proper subject for closest examination 
and study. 

Patiently did they endeavor to learn all that could 
be drawn out concerning his life ; and especially his 
impressions and thoughts received from and in nature, 
uninfluenced by the society and teachings of men. 

This astonished delight in a person so novel is not of 
difficult explanation — for an eager curiosity concerning 
the distant and unknown is common to mankind. 

Should an angel from some star-world come on an 
open visit to the people of earth, all men would be 
seized with a most irrepressible desire to see him ; and 
to hear all that he could be induced to disclose concern- 
ing his own mysterious existence. 

And would not the revelation of such a sublime life 
flash and shine like a pillar of fire in this dark world? 
It would for a little time, and excite tremendous interest ; 
but it would then, by familiarity, lose its novelty, and 
men would cease to regard it. This thirst for the un- 
known is very queer in some of its leadings. It gives 
only now and then a vacant glance at that which is near, 
but zealously puts out its eyes gazing upon the remote. 
It magnifies the strange, and dwarfs the common. 

It is said that there are those living within the sound 
of the awful roar of Niagara, who never give a passing 



MAN — THE BOOK MAKER. 29 

thought to that marvellous work of nature. Strangers 
stand wrapped in mute amazement, gazing upon the 
mighty waters rushing, thundering over the terrible 
precipice; and in tlie stormy roar, spell-bound, they 
seem to hear earth's sublimest hymn of Omnipotence. 

There are many people living in the region of the 
Mammoth Cave who never cared to enter it. They have 
seen hundreds of eager visitors come and go with each 
summer. They have often heard of those magnificent 
halls and chambers, which, by the light even of torches, 
outshine the l3^rical glory of the Moorish Alhambra ; but 
they have never been tempted to go and see for them- 
selves the far-famed wonder. The same people would 
be elated by an opportunity to cross the ocean and look 
upon the Alps 

Many a man devotes years to learning the names, 
position, shape, colors and movements of the heavenly 
bodies, who would consider it beneath the dignity of his 
profession to bestow an hour's study upon a garden 
plant, or in devising a kite for his boy. Scientists may 
be met here and there, unable to tell a column of trap 
rock from a ledge of limestone ; but they would be 
thrown into ecstasies could they possibly obtain a piece 
of the moon even the size of a man's hand. 

Now, each human being is in himself a store of won- 
ders, a miniature world — an epitome of universal expe- 
rience — a cosmos worthy the prying ken of a Hum- 
boldt ; and while all pertaining to it is of transcendant 
importance, that cosmos remains unexplored. Nothing 
can be less doubtful, and naore inexplicable, than our 
ignorance of men. 



30 MAN — THE BOOK MAKER. 

For, after all, how very little we do know, even of 
those with whom we are most intimately associated. 

The life we know is but the outside — the river flowing 
above ground. The words we learn, and the actions we 
behold, are no more than surface ripples upon the water. 
The eye cannot penetrate the deeply hidden springs, 
and there look upon thought and feeling — the source of 
all that is said and done. 

This unsatisfactory ignorance cannot be attributed 
solely to inattention, for it must be owing in part, at 
least, to a more seriously discouraging cause. Men are 
unwilling to be known, and hence studiously keep them- 
selves under cover of disguise. They live a sort of dual 
life, the inner and the outer, the private and the public, 
the seen and the not seen. These, two, are not unfre- 
quently surprisingly different. 

As the word person ^ which originally meant only the 
mask, afterward the character played by an actor, in 
time came to denote the actor himself, so it is with the 
apparent life of men. They choose to impersonate a 
character, and often become so identified with that which 
they have assumed, that they themselves lose all ac- 
quaintance with the real self; and in the language of 
Pope, " The human persons are as fictitious as the airy 
ones." 

If men and society could for a season be so constituted 
that every act should be seen, and every thought be 
known, perhaps, evil would be repressed, and virtue 
greatly increased upon the earth. Those bent on wicked 
deeds have been known to steal away abashed and 
rebuked before the discovery and look of a child. 



MAN — THE BOOK MAKER. 31 

Were it possible, by miracle, suddenly to remove all 
bodies from their spirits ; and compel every one to gaze 
upon his own and other's naked souls — insufferable 
would be the disclosure. Society would be shaken from 
its present foundations, and for a time the darkness and 
confusion of chaos would prevail. But from out the 
troubled night might come a glorious morning for the 
human race. 

Dark secrecy is the chief element in the condition most 
favorable to sin ; and the consciousness of sin is the 
powerful advocate of dissimulation. They either go 
hand in hand, or follow immediately upon each other's 
footsteps. 

In the poetic account of the primeval couple in Para- 
dise, we find that man's first thrill of shame was for his 
nakedness, and as naturally as we lift the hand involun- 
tarily to shield the eye from a sudden light, so, uncon- 
sciously attempting to hide the stained spirit — he made 
aprons of fig-leaves to cover his blushing body. The 
true motive of that action, and of his hiding among the 
trees of the garden, is generally overlooked. Conscience 
sent the blush to his cheek and brow, and rendered him 
a wretched coward, ashamed to be seen. He could not 
bear to have it known that he had fallen from his 
princely estate of innocence ; and had it been possible, 
he would have concealed forever his ruin from God and 
the angels. The children inherited the proud spirit and 
bitter portion of their great first father. 

As the lightning sometimes shimmers faintly through 
the blackest clouds, so through all the oblivion of ages 
there still comes ever and anon to humanity a dim recol- 
lection of the period when man stood but little lower 



32 MAN — THE BOOK MAKER. 

than the angels. He feels that he is not the happy and 
exalted creature he was designed to be. Often too weak 
to attempt to rise above sin, and too proud to acknowl- 
edge his shameful condition, he sees no other alternative 
than to march through life under false colors. The in- 
scrutable mystery is, that he not only becomes reconciled 
to his degrading choice, but in many cases by some 
potent illusion, or from the pleasing temporary rewards 
of successfully acting a false part, he is persuaded that 
he does wisely and well. 

Conscience, stultified or dead, no longer gives law to 
his life, and he utterly fails to discriminate between 
right and wrong. 

When we quietly reflect upon Hagar's exclamation, 
" Thou God seest me!" who can be so weak as to imagine 
that flimsy veils can mock the eye of Omnipotence? 
David, in a passage, which for its awful burden and sub- 
limity of language can hardly be found equaled elsewhere 
in universal literature, proclaims the absolute impossi- 
bility of hiding any thing from God : 

" Lord thou hast searched me, and known me. 
Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising; thou 
understandest my thoughts afar off. Thou compassest 
my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all 
my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but 
lo ! Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast 
beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon 
me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me : it is 
high, I cannot attain unto it. "Whither shall I go from 
thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence ? If 
I ascend up into heaven, thou art there ; if I make my 
bed in the unseen world, thou art there ! If I take the 



MAN — THE BOOK MAKER. 83 

wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts 
of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy 
right hand shall hold me. If I sa}"", surely the darkness 
shall cover me ; even the night shall he light above me. 
Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee ; but the night 
shineth as the day ; the darkness and the light are alike 
to thee!" 

These instructive words should be painted upon the 
walls of all our homes, and be woven into the memory of 
every child in the nation. A full persuasion of their 
truth would render people less anxious about vain 
appearance, and more concerned with stern realities. 
They would be led to despise the cloaks of pretension, 
and to strive to live true and brave lives. It would 
certainly be a most powerful incentive to virtue, to be 
ever mindful that we are in full view of a .sleepless and 
watching eye ; that our actions are seen, and our thoughts 
heard in heaven. 

If the dogma of modern science be true that, " All 
things are but altered — nothing dies," then what stupen- 
dous importance inheres in all that we do, and all that 
we are. 

Each star in the immensity of space sends out its every 
flash, as a picture star, sailing on the wings of light 
through journeys of awful ages. And 

" Were a star quenched on high, 
For ages would its light, 
Still traveUng downward from the sky, 
Shine on our mortal sight." 

The most delicate fern prints its shadowy photograph 
upon the everlasting rocks ; and our every fugitive 



34 MAN — THE BOOK MAKER. 

thought leaves some tint or shade of color ; and every 
seemingly insignificant act is a steel chisel, cutting some 
trace upon the character which we fashion for eternity. 

" E'en a snowflake lets a shadow fall, 
As softly to the earth it sinks to rest." 

Hence the humblest life may start concentric and ever- 
widening waves of influence, for good or evil, that shall 
only break against the shores of the eternal ocean. 

Our theatre of action is not bounded by earth and time. 
Man lives, acts, and then dies; but his life inaugurates 
a force whose influence cannot perish — until time shall 
be no more ; until all things shall be made new, and 
former things have forever passed away. 

By an inevitable necessity of our nature and condition, 
we are a race of bookmakers. Each human being must 
contribute one volume to the library of the universe. 
Man composes, but the angels of God print and bind the 
works in volumes imperishable. Happy, forever, they 
whose lives shall be eloquent treatises on truth and 
goodness — who had the moral courage to live as God's 
men. But woe to them whose books shall be dark 
stories of shame, falsehood and sin: whose whole life 
was one miserable struggle to appear to be that which 
they took no pains actually to be. 

''And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before 
God ; and the books were opened ; and another book 
was opened — which is the Book of Life ; and the dead 
were judged out of those things which were written in 
the books, according to their works." 

In the light of the preceding reflections, the writer 
proposes to tell the story of the good and eloquent young 



MAN — THE BOOK MAKER. 35 

shepherd Berty Stover. Several years have quickly- 
passed since he left us, and to-day the rank summer grass 
is waving over the crook that fell from his hands ; but 
hundreds scattered through the land still remember his 
dear face, sweet voice and thrilling words. And this 
memory is alone enough to rekindle love, and awaken 
something of that enthusiasm for virtue and godliness, 
which we always felt when he stood as a messenger of 
grace before us. His history will be given faithful to 
life ; for the brush of fancy shall touch no fiojure, and the 
hand of squeamish taste shall not hide a single leaf. 
From childhood, through youth to early manhood, and 
at the grave to the edge of "The land o' the leal," step 
by step will we follow him. The old home ; his %ther, 
and family, and the sainted mother, of whom he so often 
spoke with words of singular beauty and pathos ; the 
village school, and his days at college ; his trials and 
afflictions, as well as his joys and solid triumphs ; the 
gifted young woman whom he loved with a love more 
royal and beautiful than that of Abelard ; his faith and 
the " Current Reformation; " his sparkling letters, with 
a few of his essays, orations and sermons, and his original 
opinions of public men and things, shall all claim our 
attention in passing. 

If the book at places seems sensational — if it outrage 
the proud conceit of some would-be leaders, and even 
shock the nerves of some of our churches ; then let it be 
remembered that no enemy has done this ; but a gentle 
and unpretending hand, bent upon painting some scenes 
of life just as they were and are, without any effort at 
ornamentation. 

Away off here upon the wild frontier of our country, in 



86 MAN — THE BOOK MAKER. 

a glorious climate, away from the din and scramble of 
the world, in a wondrous stillness, only relieved ever 
and anon during the day by the blast of the soldier's 
bugle, and at night by the sentry's cry, that "All's 
well!" often seated high up on a huge rock on the 
mountain side, and in the solemn shade of the live oaks 
— in leisure hours — I have lovingly worked to build a 
simple monument to the memory of my friend. 

When dear Berty knew that he was now about to die, 
with the sweet light of that other world already upon his 
face, he fearlessly pronounced what must be deemed his 
own most appropriate and honorable epitaph — 

"My Life is an Open Book!" 



CHAPTER III. 



PARENTAGE. 

"It is seldom that genius is isolated in a race : the germ of it 
almost always appears before the perfect fruit bursts forth. By- 
tracing up a family for several generations we usually find some 
precursors of the great man whom nature seems gradually pre- 
paring in it. 

Thus with the poetical family of Tasso whose father was a 
poet of second rank ; thus with Mirabeau whose father and 
uncles were all natural and untaught orators. Nature takes a 
long time in preparing its masterpieces of the human race, as 
it does in the vegetable and mineral kingdoms. 

Man is a creature of succession ; who sometimes collects and 
combines in a single individual, the mental qualities of perhaps 
a hundred generations." — M. de Lamartine. 

George Gilbert Stover, named for both of his grand- 
fathers — George Stover, and Gilbert T. Harney, — was 
born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, June 26th, 1853. 

From earliest infancy he went by the name " Berty," 
and in fact, he himself never recognized any other. 

He was the second child and son of Daniel C. and 
Francis Harney Stover. 

He was a finely developed, bright-faced, blue-eyed 
little fellow, very nervous, and too wakeful. 

(37) 



38 PARENTAGE. 

Family tradition reports him descended from a fine 
and even royal old stock of people ; and there are some 
treasured proofs showing the claim to be just. 

His father, son of George Stover, Jr., was born near 
Bedford Springs, Virginia, November J 8th, 1822. He 
was the seventh child of his parents, who had a large 
family of seven sons and five daughters. 

George Stover, Jr., was a son of Dr. George Stover, of 
Virginia, who, despite the hardships of the medical 
practice one hundred years ago, won love and a high 
reputation in his profession, and lived to the ripe age of 
eighty years. 

The Doctor and his wife, Hannah Price Stover, moved 
from Pennsylvania to Virginia in 1798. 

Hannah Price, the great grandmother of Berty, was 
born in Berlin, and was the daughter of a half brother 
of the King of Prussia, who fled to this country with his 
family on account of political and religious persecution. 

She was a rarely beautiful woman, with large blue 
eyes, fair and rosy complexion, hair like the corn silk, a 
tall, rounded and graceful body. 

The old moth-eaten family record tells us, that she 
was indeed a queenly woman of gentle manners and 
brilliant mind. 

Away back from her, Berty probably inherited his fine 
blue eyes, and his nervous sanguine temperament, his 
inborn dignity, and that natural spring of eloquent 
speech. 

George Stover, Jr., who had married Anna Rader, 
December IGth^ 1810, in Botetourt Co., Virginia, finding 
himself blessed with an old-fashioned number of children, 
and desiring to rear them beyond the influence of what 



PARENTAGE. 39 

he always emphatically pronounced — *'the curse of 
slavery," moved to the free state of Indiana in the fall 
of 1832. He settled with his family upon a rich tract of 
wild land, lying on Haw Creek, Montgomery County, 
Indiana. 

There in honest and peaceful toil he spent the remain- 
der of his years, and died May 5th, 1863. 

His son, Daniel was one of those plucky youths, whose 
inborn energy and ambition impel them to surmount all 
obstacles and climb ever higher and higher in life. 

The worm rail fences of his fathers fields, and the 
boundary of the clearing in the forest could not confine 
his aspirations. His dreams and hopes early carried him 
out to the activities and honors of a much wider sphere. 

As a boy he had a clear, quick brain, a will of most 
tenacious grip ; and a heart full of good humor and 
generous sympathies. And in addition to all this, he 
was blessed with a robust body, capable of the severest 
endurance. 

As might have been predicted, Daniel soon learned to 
read, and henceforth greedily devoured the few books 
that fell within his reach. 

When but sixteen years of age he threw aside the axe 
and sickle — took up the ferule, and entered the country 
school house to teach the young Hoosiers — ''Readin, 
Ritin and Rithmetick." 

It is a curious fact that the majority of the best and 
most distinguished men of our country, seem to have 
laid the foundations of their future success while teachers 
in the old log school house. 

Writers on social science might find it a subject for an 
interesting philosophical chapter. 



40 PARENTAGE. 

Daniel continued teaching until he had hoarded up 
enough money to enable him to go to college. 

About this time he was chosen by his fellow citizens 
to be orator of the day, at a great celebration on July 4, 
1839 ; and his oration awakened the most patriotic enthu- 
siasm of the multitude. Indeed, he has always been a 
public speaker of enviable power ; though seldom exer- 
cising his talent. 

In 1839, he entered Wabash College, at which institu- 
tion he continued a student, in separate periods, for 
three years. ^ 

During this time he had taken up the study of the 
Law, and in October, 1842, at Iowa City, he began to 
study under the instruction of Hon. W. R. Harrison and 
Gov. Lucas, the first governor of Iowa. There he re- 
mained during the winter — the coldest ever known at 
that point — until the summer of 1843, when he went 
to Washington County, and there continued his legal 
studies with his brother, G. R. Stover, who was U. S. 
District Clerk. 

Under him, Daniel served for some months as deputy 
clerk. 

He and Samuel A. James, located the town of Sigour- 
ney, Iowa ; and they two conducted the first election 
ever held in Keokuk County. 

He was admitted to the bar, to practice law in Sep- 
tember, 1844 ; and soon thereafter decided to return to 
Indiana, and to remain a citizen of that state. 

He went across the country on horseback, in those 
days a hard and lonely trip. 

There were no stage lines and railroads then ; and but 



Parentage. 41 

few small settlements in what is now the great State of 
Illinois. 

In the spring of 1847, he was graduated as '' Bachelor 
of Laws " in the Law Dej^artment of Indiana State Urii- 
versity ; and was unanimously elected class representa- 
tive to deliver the oration on the Profession of the Law 
at the University's annual Commencement. 

Returning home, the same season he located in Craw- 
fordsville ; and in the following August was elected Attor- 
ney for his Judicial District, and for two years prosecuted 
the pleas of the State. 

On the 2d of November, 1847, he married Francis M. 
Harney, at the old Harney home on Haw Creek ; and 
immediately took the young wife to their new home in 
Crawfordsville. 

Here their two sons, James Harney and Berty were 
born. 

In 1849, Daniel accepted the position of principal 
clerk to Colonel A. May, Indiana State Agent at New 
York ; and while there he alone managed the Indiana 
suspended State debt. 

He was sent to the House of Representatives from the 
county in which he was reared ; and was an active 
member of the Indiana Legislature during the long ses- 
sion of 1852 and 1853, when it revised the laws of the 
State. 

Although the youngest man in the House, he was 
chosen with Robert Dale Owen and James S. Hester, to 
revise all the laws so as to conform them to the new 
Constitution of 1852. 

He himself re vised and wrote out over one-third of the 
Revised Statutes, as they now stand and remain in force. 



42 PARENTAGE. 

In 1854 he removed to Ladoga, a growing town about 
ten miles from Crawfordsville, and there established his 
permanent family residence. He took all pains to select 
a lovely site ; on elevated ground, overlooking the vil- 
lage. The large and elegant house was nestled in the 
midst of a rich grove of maple and walnut trees. It soon 
became a beautiful home, a fit place for the early growth 
and aesthetical culture of a creature so exquisitely or- 
ganized, and so impressionable as was the child Berty. 

In 1857, D. C. Stover, Oliver P. Morton, and Samuel 
H. Buskirk were the Democratic candidates before the 
Indiana Legislature for the office of State Agent. 

Stover was elected, but owing to political wrangling, 
and a bolting Legislature, he did not get possession of 
his office for nearly two years. He served two years ; 
and in 1861, was defeated in the race for the same office 
by only two votes. After that, he acted as manager of 
the office in New York, for his successor, R. N. Hudson. 

His wife died in August, 1862, and he returned home 
to live with his three motherless children. 

At this time there were some flattering openings for 
him in public life ; but he declared that nothing should 
now separate him from his two boys, and his tender and 
beautiful little daughter Lida ; that he felt it his most 
sacred duty to see personally to their welfare and edu- 
cation. 

For the sake of employment at home, he built a large 
woolen mill at Ladoga, ran it four years and then sold 
it out. 

On the 13th of September, 1864, he married M. C. 
Harney, a younger sister of liis first wife, and a noble 
and an accomplished Christian woman. 



PARENTAGE. 43 

They have two children, Urban C, and Anna Char- 
lotte. 

All the family, including James and Berty moved to 
Denver, Colorado, in the spring of 1873. Upon arrival 
at Denver, they opened a real estate and mining office. 

The two sons had been very actively engaged in 
preaching for several years ; were worn down from con- 
stant study and public speaking, and their father wisely 
persuaded them to engage for a time with him in a busi- 
ness which would keep them much in the open air. 

They organized several large mining companies ; and 
by much labor, and expense, prepared a full and com- 
plete set of Abstract Books of the city of Denver and the 
county of Arapahoe. 

In short, Berty' s father, Daniel C. Stover, has been 
through life a great worker, and is a man of uncommon 
mind and character. From early manhood he has been a 
leader among men, and has exercised dominant influence 
both in church and community wherever he lived. 

He has always cherished a deep interest in the cause 
of popular education ; was the founder of Ladoga Acad- 
emy, and for a number of years was a prominent member 
of the Board of Trustees of Northwestern Christian Uni- 
versity of Indiana. 

He is a man of charmingly sunny nature, of strong 
faith in God, and in humanity. He regards many men, 
in their misfortune or degradation, as being but over- 
loaded children of circumstances, who have not had a 
fair chance to bring out the good that is in them. 

He is wide awake to all subjects of importance, is well 
read, and both thinks and lives under certain clearly 
defined and fixed master principles of life. He despises 



44 PARENTAGE. 

bigotry, is intelligently liberal and catholic in all his 
views. Especially has he strong sympathies for the 
struggling young, and has rarely known a young man 
without making some kind effort to arouse high ambition 
within him. 

There are now a goodly number of men eminent in the 
nation, who laughingly but gratefully tell of the delicious 
conceit with which Uncle Daniel's persuasive talk inspired 
them when boys. He has the peculiar faculty of putting 
himself in your place, in order to help you out, and into 
a better one. 

As might be conjectured concerning such a strong, 
positive and self-asserting nature, he is a genuine optimist, 
and consequently his conduct is sometimes marked by 
seemingly undue selfishness. While he would not abuse 
the world, he would use it most exactingly for his own 
advancement, and does not believe in tamely submitting 
to be used as a tool, or slave, or stepping-stone by others. 

His relation with his children was an intimate and 
sacred one. 

Many a privileged guest has gone from his hospitable 
house, thoughtfully impressed with a sense of the holi- 
ness of that perfect love which casts out all fear, and 
renders home a sweet and heavenly place. 

His sons told him their every secret, every care and 
plan, and even fearlessly confided to him their little love 
affairs. He seemed to understand it all, to feel it all, 
and with warm sympathy entered fully into their child- 
ish joys and sorrows. ^ 

No wonder they grew up to regard him as a real fortress 
into which they could flee in their times of trouble. 



PARENTAGE. 45 

In their great respect for his wise judgment they 
deferred to his opinions ; and in their gratitude, they 
were ever anxious to please him, and only afraid of 
wounding his feelings, or disappointing his fond expec- 
tations. Happy father in having such sons, and thrice 
blessed sons in having such a father ! 

Gilbert T. Harney, Berty's maternal grandfather, son 
of Selby Harney and his wife Hannah Hopkins, was born 
in Nicholas County, Kentucky, July 16th, 1801. 

Selby Harney was one of the early settlers of Ken- 
tucky, and the family name is inseparably connected with 
the historical honor of the State. 

Indeed, through the renowned sagacity and prowess of 
General Harney, of the same old family, the name has 
been long illustrious in our nation. He is said to have 
been the only soldier whom the fierce Sioux Indians ever 
dreaded. 

Both Selby Harney and his wife Hannah died from 
Black Tongue, within the short space of two weeks. 

This terrible disease, at that time also called ''Cold 
Plague," or "Black Death," from the appearance of 
black spots over the body, and the sensation of being 
frozen, had filled the country with mourning and horror. 

The accounts given by old people of those days of 
darkness and woe, remind one of the appalling descrip- 
tion by Thucydides of the plague at Athens, or of 
Bulwer's account in '' Rienzi," of the same fell pestilence. 

The spots which appeared- over the body, and the 
blackened, paralyzed tongue were soon known to be seals 
of a doom which medicine had no power to avert ; and 
which many people, in shuddering despair, anticipated 
by suicide. 



46 PARENTAGE. 

Selby and wife left nine children, of whom Gilbert, 
then only thirteen years of age, was the eldest son. 

On him, at once devolved the care of the younger 
children. 

He was made of sounder stuff than most boys, had a 
powerful brain and a dauntless heart ; and right nobly 
did he strive to fill his father's place. Such were his 
hard struggles and strangely able management that they 
called forth the admiration and friendly help of all the 
few neighbors that he had. 

His brother Selby, Jr., grew up to be a scholarly man, 
became a Professor in Washington College, Pennsyl- 
vania, and died while yet an honored member of the 
faculty of that institution. 

Another brother was the widely known John H. Har- 
ney, the author of the ''Harney Series of Mathematical 
Works," at one time extensively used in the schools of 
the West and South. He was a regular graduate of old 
Hanover College ; and for several years Professor of 
Mathematics in Indiana State University. From there 
he went to Louisville, Kentucky, and established a 
High School for young ladies. 

At last, having abandoned the school room, he became 
editor and publisher of the Louisville Democrat, which he 
soon made a formidable competitor of Geo. D. Prentice's 
celebrated Journal, for he proved to be an able journal- 
ist ; and Senator Stephan A. Douglas delighted to style 
Harney "The Lion- of the Press of America." 

He succeeded Prentice as editor of the Journal; and 
having won great honor and influence in his native state 
and throughout the southwest, died at his beautiful resi- 
dence near Louisville in 1870. 



PARENTAGE. 47 

A sister, Lucinda Harney became the wife of the 
distinguished educator and Grammarian, Professor Noble 
Butler. 

William Wallace Harney, a cousin of Berty, is an 
acknowledged literary genius, and his popular produc- 
tions command a place in the best periodicals of our 
country. 

Gilbert T. Harney married Charlotte Kyle of Shelby 
County, Kentucky, April 25th, 1823. 

They removed from Kentucky to Montgomery County, 
Indiana, in the fall of 1835. They had two sons, James 
F. and John H., four daughters, Frances, the eldest, 
Siisan, Martha, and Mahala. The surviving son, James 
F., is now one of the prominent public men of Indiana. 

The name of Gilbert T. Harney is familiar to the 
Disciples in America as that of a powerful preacher of the 
Gospel of Christ. 

He died suddenly July 22d, 1846, from the effect of 
mephitic air at the bottom of a well. 

He, who had devoted his whole life to the unselfish 
service of others, prematurely cut short that noble life 
in a frantic effort to save his loved son. 

For an account of his tragical end, I take an extract 
from an old paper, the Monthly Record of 1846 : 

''Our beloved brother, Eld. Gilbert T. Harney is no 
more. He died at his own house, on Haw Creek, Mont- 
gomer}^ County, Indiana, very suddenly, on the 22d day 
of July, together with his youngest son, John Harney. 
The circumstances of his death were these, as I learned 
them from Brother Bowen of New Maysville : 

" The pump in the well had got out of order, and John 
Harney went down into the well to examine and repair 



48 PARENTAGE. 

it, and on reaching the bottom instantly fell insensible. 
The life -destroying damp had struck him ! No "one was 
present to assist him but his father, Bro. G. T. Harney, 
who, seeing him fall, with all the intensity of a father's 
affection, at once descended into the same abode of 
death, to rescue his son, but alas ! he was able to render 
him no assistance, for the fatal damp struck him too, 
and he closed his eyes forever upon the things of time ! 
No one was present to witness this terrible sight, except 
sister Harne}'', and the female members of the family, 
who could render no assistance in such a trying moment. 
The bodies remained in the well for several hours, until 
the neighbors could be convened, and take out the 
pump, and destroy the poisoning gas. 

" Eld. Gilbert T. Harney was well known in Indiana 
and Kentucky, as an able proclaimer of the gospel of 
Christ. No man had a stronger aversion to the vain tradi- 
tions of men, by which the word of God is made of none 
effect, and none perhaps loved the truth more ardently 
than Bro. G. T. Harney. He was a bold and uncompro- 
mising advocate of primitive Christianity. The church 
of God at Haw Creek, over which he presided as an over- 
seer, and all the churches to whom he ministered, will 
long feel his loss. But his family ! how can words 
describe the anguish they feel ! But I will not indulge 
in this strain — they are left in comfortable circumstances, 
so far as the good things of this life are concerned, and 
are in the midst of kind and intelligent brethren, who 
will supply their every want." — Editor. 

Frances M. Harney, Berty's own mother, inherited 
largely the mental powers and graces characteristic 
of her family. She possessed an energetic, sensitive 



PARENTAGE. 49 

and warmly affectionate disposition. There was some- 
thing seemingly proud, even lofty in her bearing, but 
she was really one of the gentlest and most kindly of 
women. Over her home she presided with simple and 
quiet dignity, always patient, always elegant, and ever 
as fresh and sweet in spirit and appearance as a new 
blown rose. 

She was even passionately devoted to her children, 
and yet a model mother in her wise care for them ; and 
she earnestly sought to teach them to regard falsehood 
and selfishness with abhorrence, to aspire to noble 
things, above all to fear and love God. 

The last words she ever spoke to her children, were : 

^' Love God, spend your lives in his love, all else 
counts for nothing when you come here !" 

When she died the whole community mourned, and 
thronged weeping to her funeral ; and it was remarked 
by many, that no other woman in all the county would 
have been so generally and sadly missed as she was. 

In the troubled lives of the poor there was made a 
void, and there was no one who could take her place. 

But, 

" To live in hearts we leave behind, 
Is — not to die!" 

And rarely has it ever happened to a mother, Beatae 
memoriae, sweetly to live in such singular power and 
beauty, as this sainted woman lived in the soul of her 
gifted son. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE BOY AT SCHOOL. 

"Childhood shows the man, 
As morning shows the day." — Milton. 

Berty began going to Ladoga Academy in September, 
1858, when but five years old. 

His first teacher was Prof. Jesse Walden, now ranked 
among the most useful preachers in the State of Ken- 
tucky. He soon became deeply interested in his little 
pupil, and often took Berty upon his knee, while teach- 
ing him the first lessons. 

During this session his prescient teacher, and a num- 
ber of observing friends began to predict that the child 
would lead no common career in life. 

He attended the Academy four years, enjoying the 
instruction of such good men as R. M. Johnson, A.M., 
John Young, L.L.D., John Campbell, A.M., and Aaron 
Goodwin, A.M. 

He learned rapidly, and soon left "his fellows of the 

same age far behind ; and yet, because of his modest 

disposition, his indisputable mental superiority, and 

evident vocation of literature, his schoolmates never 

appeared at all envious of him. 

(50) 



THE BOY AT SCHOOL. 51 

The boys, like the comrades of Helvia's son in Ar- 
pinum, were proud to do the bright little fellow honor; 
and the girls, only jealous of one another, shyly gave 
him gifts of fruits and flowers ; and often followed him 
with their sighs. 

These early attentions, he received with an uncon- 
scious matter-of-course air, as though one used to tribute ; 
but he received them with exquisite politeness, always 
lifting his cap with naive grace, and making some pretty 
speech. 

A fair woman writes, '' When he was about ten years 
old, Berty, with whom I got acquainted at a country 
meeting, was at once enshrined as the first hero of my 
soul. One morning I ventured to give him a very large 
red apple. I cannot forget the tone and manner with 
which he thanked me, and said: ^'I cannot think of 
anything which would more tempt me to take a bite;, 
unless it is your own rosy cheek !" I was several years 
older than he, but the dear audacious little gallant made 
me blush, and hastily retreat. Foolish girl ! I was happy 
all that day long, and kept thinking to myself, that 
should Berty ever bite my cheek, an easy bite, I would 
not be very angry with him." 

In childhood, and on through life he seemed absolutely 
devoid of any sense of fear. 

It is related of the great sea warrior, Lord Nelson, that 
when a lad be one day curiously asked his mother : 

"What is fear?" and Berty might have done the 
same ; for indeed, such was his physical, mental, and 
moral courage, that he feared no man, question or temp- 
tation. 



62 THE BOY AT SCHOOL. 

He always had a quick, high temper ; but while natu- 
rally inclined to be vindictive, he put a bridle upon his 
spirit, and tried hard to restrain bad feeling, and never 
allowed the sun to go down upon his wrath. He said 
that he " would be ashamed to go to God in his evening 
prayer, with any unjust anger, or cruel enmity lurking 
in his heart ; that no one could afford to allow the Devil 
to make a hiding ])lace of the soul for snakes, scorpions 
and slimy things." 

But, so intense were his feelings, and so decided his 
convictions of right and wrong ; so highly did he esteem 
truth and justice, that he could never be any white, 
quivering lipped opponent of wrong; hence he was a 
w^hole souled champion, or a fierce enemy. 

Such was the quick interest and the decision of his 
mind, that Berty Stover could never see two chickens, 
or two dogs fighting, without instantly, and with shout- 
ing enthusiasm, taking the side of one or the other : He 
could not be neutral if he tried 

In his happy faith which seldom knew a cloud, he 
believed that God was always with him, to help him be 
invincible. 

And this was the secret of the abrupt frankness with 
which he would say to one's face, " I like you, and want 
you to be my friend !" or, '^ I don't respect you Sir, and 
wish to have nothing to do with you, unless you turn 
about and mend your mean wicked ways " 

This too, in his later years was the secret of that fearful 
eloquence, by which, with words on fire he sometimes, 
and at most unexpected moments, arraigned the aged 
sinner, and made him tremble. 



THE BOY AT SCHOOL. 53 

He never hesitated to preach " out of season," and it 
was wonderful to see a pale boy thus storming and cleav- 
ing the hearts of old hardened nien and women, with the 
sword of the spirit ! 

He early gave proofs of a keenly sympathetic and 
very generous disposition ; he showed an earnest desire 
to make all around him happy ; and despised selfish 
meanness. On one occasion, while still very young, 
one of his little companions was attacked by a much 
larger boy, and was being very roughly handled ; Berty 
who stood near, looked on for a few moments with pallid 
countenance ; but then he could stand it no longer, and 
rushing to the rescue, began to pommel with all his 
might and main, indignantly exclaiming, " If you strike 
him, you strike me ; you are a bad coward to beat a 
little bit a boy ; but we both can whip you!" 

And whip him they did, until he bellowed, " enough !" 

That night, Berty told God all about the fight, and 
gave thanks for the victory over the bad boy, just with 
as good grace as David ever shouted over his fallen 
enemies. 

He could never be brought to profess the Christian 
doctrine of submission and utter non-resistance — as com- 
monly interpreted ; and never got over the notion that it 
was his privilege and duty to stand by a friend, or a 
principle of right, with the suasory power of words, 
money, or physical force, as occasion might require. 

In a pleasant discussion one evening with a Quaker 
friend who contended that the followers of Christ are 
restricted to moral weapons, and are debarred from all 
wars and fightings ; that Christ never appealed to any- 
thing but truth and love to influence men. 



54 THE BOY AT SCHOOL. 

Berty exclaimed, '^ Imagine our Lord mounting a 
bench in the temple, and lovingly telling the Shylocks 
of their sin and shame, and trying to persuade them to 
cease from prostituting His Father's house ! Why Sir, 
they would have laughed the Master to scorn — nay, 
they would have killed him or sold him, and cut short 
his mission, had he possessed the spirit you attribute to 
him. Jesus understood human nature, and he knew 
that there is ever a large class of men who can be con- 
trolled only by the hand of power armed with the lash 
and chain. And he certainly intended that such repro- 
bates should be controlled for the good of society and the 
glory of God. When you get home I would have you 
study out the meaning of this passage of Scripture :" 

" ' Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and found in the tem- 
ple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the 
changer of money sitting : And when he had made a 
scourge of small cords, he drove them all out the temple, 
and the oxen and the sheep ; and poured out the chan- 
gers' money, and overthrew the tables.' " 

Berty was exceedingly jealous of his rights, and no 
one could ever trample them, or put the least indignity 
upon him, with impunity. He could not rest under 
w^hat he believed to be willful wrong ; and this marked 
trait of his character was undoubtedly inherited, for it is 
found in all the family. 

In the summer of 1856, when he was three years old, 
his aged grandfather, and his great uncle Abram Stover 
were on a visit to his father. 

One afternoon the old folks sat out in the shade of the 
trees, w4iile the children romped on the grass in the ya^d. 



THE BOY AT SCHOOL. 55 

In their play brother Jim was somewhat too rough, 
and hurt Berty; after several vain protestations, his 
anger was aroused, and instead of childishly crying, the 
little fellow, with amusing pluck, pitched in and began 
to belabor Jim most furiously. 

The two old hardy men were greatly diverted by the 
scene : 

Uncle Abe especially, who had all his life prided him- 
self upon his pugilistic abilities, was delighted, and 
laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks. Turning to 
the father he said, '^ Daniel, take care of that fine boy — 
I have not seen such grit for nigh forty years ; he has 
the old Virginia spirit in him sure ; give him a fair 
chance and he will make a man worth talking about." 

In 1858, While Eld. 0. P. Badger was on a visit at the 
home in Ladoga, having noticed Berty walking about the 
house, he was struck by his noble appearance, and said, 
*' Why, that little fellow has the most decided step and 
soldierly bearing of any child I ever saw ; he walks like 
a young Julius Csesar ; if he live, I predict that he will 
become a great man, and make himself felt in the land." 

About this time, Berty one night perched himself 
upon his dear old grandmother's lap, saying, "Now, 
Grandma tell me all about the Good Man's house, and 
what he has got in it." "Well," said Grandma, "it 
is a most beautiful house, and big enough for millions of 
people ; the floors are made of shining gold ; the walls 
of precious stones, like diamonds and rubies; the gates 
of splendid pearls. It don't get dark there; the people 
never get sick, and they never die. There is a beautiful 
river on whose banks grows the Tree of Life, whose 
leaves are for the healing of the nations." 



56 THE BOY AT SCHOOL. 

After quietly musing for a while, lie seriously asked, 
''But say Grandma, if people don't get sick up there, 
what's that medicine tree there for ?'' 

The good old woman instantly cut short the conversa- 
tion, gently put him down, and bade him run out to play. 

While still at school, one day a boy about twice his 
size attacked him with an ugly Barlow knife ; but Berty 
sprang with the swiftness of a mad young tiger, snatched 
the knife from his hand, and threw it far away. Then 
with singular coolness, calmly delivered him a sound 
lecture, shaming him for having drawn a knife upon a 
boy so much smaller than himself, and concluded by 
saying that he would never speak to him again. 

A few years thereafter, when Berty was about to join 
the church, he sought out this same boy to whom he had 
not spoken since the trouble, and told him that he felt 
very much ashamed of himself that he had not spoken to 
him, and now begged his pardon for having acted so 
spitefully toward him. 

He then plead with the boy for a long time to come 
with him and join the church, and sach was his know- 
ledge of the story of the Cross, and such his zeal that he 
then won his first convert. 

It was in November, 1862, when Eld. John O'Kane was 
conducting a protracted meeting in Ladoga. The meeting 
had continued for many days, and no one had accepted 
the invitation of the Gospel. 

Berty had been an earnest listener to every sermon. 

At last, one frosty morning he was at the wood pile 
trj^ing to split some sticks for the stove, when his father 
happened to come by. He stopped his axe, settled his 
foot on a log, and began ; 



THE BOY AT SCHOOL. 57 

''Say Pa! I think the best thing I can do now is to 
join the church." 

" Why, Berty what makes you think so?" 
'' Well, you know most boys are good when they are 
little, but as they grow up they get with bad company — 
learn bad things and become trifling : 1 never did any- 
thing bad yet; and I think if I should join the church I 
would always be in the company of good folks, and would 
not be led off into bad habits. 

''When one is a good boy it must be a great deal 
easier to stay good, than it is for one to become good 
after he has been a wicked person. I think if I join the 
church now I can keep on being a good boy all the time. 
Besides more than all that, maybe Jesus wants me to go 
to work right away !" 

Deeply moved, his father replied, 

"Well, son I will see about it to-day!" and then 
turned away to hide his tears. Going into the house, 
he immediately laid the case before Elders O'Kane and 
Hopkins and asked their advice. 

Having called Berty to him, Bro. O'Kane had a long 
talk with him, was astonished at his knowledge of the 
Scriptures — at the strength and sweet simplicity of his 
faith in Christ. * 

Finally, he said, 

" Bro. Stover, let the dear, dear boy do as he wishes, 
he fully understands what he is about, I have a strong 
impression that he is bound to be a bright burning light 
in the church — the Lord bless him ! " 

So his father told him, 

" Berty you can do as you think right, but one thing 



58 THE BOY AT SCHOOL. 

remember — whatever you do do, stand up to your pro- 
fession like a man, and never go back on yourself! " 

His face brightened with a joyous smile, and he quickly 
replied, 

^' Why Pa I know nothing about going backward!'^ 

That same day, he first hunted up his quondam enemy, 

and then together with him formally enlisted in the 

army of Christ. 

The icy indifference of the community was melted 
by the sight of those two youths being baptized ; and 
seventy other persons soon followed their example. 

The meeting was long remembered as the time of a 
great revival of religious interest in the town. 

Berty loved the Sunday School; was always in his 
place at the head of the class, and when prizes were 
offered, he invariably won the first. Once, within 
eight months, he committed to memory and repeated 
fluently four thousand verses from the Psalms and the 
Gospels. 

While he grew up to deprecate and denounce the prize 
system in education as a hurtful mistake, and an almost 
unmitigated evil ; he was always grateful that when a 
child he had been led to print the word of God upon his 
mind. ■«6o thoroughly had he learned his verses and so 
ready was his memory, that he could at any time with 
but little effort recall and recite passages, Psalms, and 
whole chapters from all parts of the Bible. 

This familiarity with the Bible may account in part, for 
his poetic and oriental richness of language in the pulpit 
and on the platform. 

In 1867 he entered as a student Kentucky University 



THE BOY AT SCHOOL. 59 

at Lexington, with his brother James who had been 
attending school there for two years. 

Berty had already begun to preach before going to 
Lexington, and began his college life with the title of 
"Boy Preacher." 

He joined the Philothean Society, and entered into 
the debates and society proceedings with much zest and 
energy. His essays and speeches all bore some stamp 
of original genius, and were generally pronounced remark- 
able productions for one so young. 

His talents were too versatile, his mind too inquisitive, 
and his body too frail for him to devote himself plod- 
dingly to any one branch of study. 

Moreover so grasping and concentrated was his atten- 
tion that he burned out more vital fluid in one hour's 
study, than most students do in three. 

He had no ambition to become eminent in any one 
department of science, except that of the Bible. 

Greek, the language so 

" Blessed in the marriage of sweet words," 

was one of his favorite studies. He liked it much better 
than Latin, because of what he called i'ts smooth beauty 
and matchless perfection ; and no doubt in part, because 
of his great admiration for that master man, John H. 
Neville, Professor of Greek ; — of whom in after years he 
could never speak without waxing eloquent. 

He admired him for his deep learning, his lordly dig- 
nity, and honest character ; and declared that the class of 
young men who attended the University needed just such 
severe discipline in their studies, such remorseless crit- 



60 THE BOY AT SCHOOL. 

icism of their work, and such an example of true man- 
hood as Prof. Neville gave. 

And with this grateful enthusiasm, the old boys, who 
exercised the Professor from '58 to '62, almost to a man, 
will fully sympathize. 

He had too a profound respect and love for Regent 
John B. Bowman. He frequently expressed his belief 
that God had raised up, and peculiarly fitted Regent 
Bowman to found' and conduct a great institution of 
learning, whose influence for good upon the rising and 
coming generations should be immeasurable. 

At college Berty suffered from one great inconvenience 
above his fellows; his hearing was impaired, and he 
was subject to spells of deafness, when it was impossible 
for him to hear the ordinary conversational tone of voice. 

At these periods, he would be considered by those who 
did not know of his affliction, listless and dull. 

One morning, he was severely reprimanded by a young 
Professor for apparent indifference to the lecture ; and 
his excuse that he could not hear the speaker, was impa- 
tiently rejected. 

He was cut to the heart, and could not rest under the 
humilating wrong put upon him. 

He resolved that if justice should be denied to him, he 
would ask of the Faculty at once that his name be honor- 
ably stricken from the roll of the University. 

That evening he dressed himself in an elegant suit of 
clothes, and went to the Professor's house, rang the bell, 
handed his card, and asked to see Prof. A. ; then sat 
down in the parlor and awaited his coming. 

When he made his appearance, Berty advanced, 
bowed, and said : 



THE BOY AT SCHOOL. 61 

*' Professor, I have come over to receive your apology 
for speaking to me so harshly, and so unjustly in the 
class-room to-day." 

Answered the Professor, with a look of mingled frown 
and surprise at such a demand from a mere stripling, " I 
have no apology to offer Sir !" 

'^ Oh ! yes you have, I know you have. God never 
gave me good ears as he did you and my fellow students. 
There are times when I am almost shut up in silence, 
and I do labor at great disadvantage. I did not — could 
not hear your lecture, and being assured of this, you 
will not withhold the apology due me." 

The Professor stood a moment looking into the open 
face of the brave, proud, sensitive boy, then warmly 
grasped his hand and said : 

" I fully accept your statement; you have my earnest 
apology ; I regret that I wounded your feelings, and in 
the future your affliction shall be remembered." 

After that a chair was placed very near the Professor 
for Berty. And there he sat, and, to use his own words, 
" swallowed in the Professor's lectures, happy as a sun- 
flower drinking the light." 

During the college sessions of 1867, 1868 and 1869, he 
lived in the excellent Christian family of William Van 
Pelt at Lexington ; and the family became strongly at- 
tached to him because of his goodness, modesty and 
intelligence. 

He was popular with his fellow students, and esteemed 
by all the Faculty. 

He was then at spells, as in after life an enormous 
reader. Put a good book into his hands, and he would 



62 THE BOY AT SCHOOL. 

soon become oblivious of all around him. He had a 
pure and cultivated taste, and was a very discriminat- 
ing critic. 

Of many books he would only read the preface and 
last page ; but some he rapidly devoured from beginning 
to end. 

Seeing him in one of these periodic seasons of bib- 
liolatry, one would be reminded of a hungry camel feed- 
ing and drinking upon the eve of a long desert journey. 

Then he would put aside his books, and impose a 
sabbath upon himself; and continued for days rapt in 
silent meditation ; and he grew to be rich in 

" The harvest of the quiet eye, 
That sleeps and broods on its own heart." 

What he read was ever after at his command, not in 
words, but in thought or fact. The great thoughts of 
others became the pabulum and stimulant of his mind, 
and not mere labelled curiosities stored in a museum. 

As a musician studies the harmonies and symphonies 
of the grand old masters, in order to educate his own 
genius, and purify his taste, so he read classical litera- 
ture, history and science to develop the powers of his 
mind and heart; he was a human epiphyte. 

Before he was twenty years of age, by eager reading he 
had become familiar with Rollins, Goldsmith, Sir Walter 
Scott, Washington Irving, Hawthorne in the Scarlet 
Letter, Milton's prose works, Boswell's Johnson, Jere- 
my Taylor, Wordsworth, Burns, Shakespeare, Coleridge, 
Bacon, Noctes Ambrosianae, Jean Paul, Hugo, Hum- 



THE BOY AT SCHOOL. 63 

boldt, Sir William Hamilton, John Stuart Mills, Lyell's 
Geology, Hume, Macaulay, Prescott, Gibbon, Grote, 
Bancroft, Dante, Draper, Dana, Blackstone, Wendell 
Holmes, Longfellow ; besides everything he could get 
concerning the ocean, which subject had a strange fasci- 
nation for him. 

He liked to read aloud Dickens, and often found most 
refreshing enjoyment in the company of his characters. 

Dr. March too, was a favorite author; his "Night 
Scenes of the Bible," and "The Unwritten Word," he 
loved much to read. 

In the spring of 1869, he had a dangerous attack of 
typhoid pneumonia, and came near dying. 

Shortly after this b}^ unforeseen accident and complica- 
tions his father lost a large fortune. His delicate health, 
and " res augusta domi," now impelled him to quit the 
University, and enter the field for the toils and battles 
of life. What he did will be related in another chapter. 

In the fall of 1871, Mr. William Carter, of Dubuque, 
Iowa, who had become anxiously interested in Berty, 
kindly offered to furnish the means for him to return to 
college. After consulting his brother James, he con- 
cluded to avail himself of the opportunity. 

So, he returned to Lexington and attended the Univer- 
sity one more year, during which time he made rapid 
progress in his studies ; and by his occasional pulpit 
efforts in various places, won a bright and precious name 
in the churches of the state. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE WORM-EATEN PULPIT. 

" The pulpit (in the sober use 
Of its legitimate, peculiar powers) 

Must stand acknowledged while the world shall stand, 
The most important and effectual guard, 
Support, and ornament of virtue's cause." — Cowper. 

The learned German Hueffell says that, '^ without the 
pnlpit Christianity would not last a century ; a blight 
would fall upon our civilization, and the world would 
inevitably relapse into a state of barbarism." 

While many will reject this, as gratuitous assumption, 
few can deny that there is good ground for Cowper' s 
position. Indeed, a little sober study will discover two 
notable things about the pulpit. 

First, through ages it has been the source of tremen- 
dous moral and spiritual power ; Second, from some 
cause that power has been greatly diminished, and seems 
to be so rapidly loosing its hold upon men, as to intimate 
that the day may possibly come, when the pulpit shall 
be as obsolete as the stone altar of the ancient Druids. 

This is enough to invest the subject with moment- 
ous interest, and challenge the attention of all those who 
do not blink at the serious questions of social and spirit- 
ual science. 

(64) 



THE WORM-EATEN PULPIT. 65 

In view of the fact, that a power which once swayed 
the world is now apparently waning, indifference and 
iinanxious complacency are both alike unpardonable. 

Surely it is, any how, high noon of timfe that preach- 
ers at least begin to recognize the actual status of the 
moc^ern pulpit ; that they open their eyes to the ugly 
rocks before them in the sea, dilligently examine their 
charts, and prepare to steer through the storm of a night 
which threatens to be the most perilous ever known by 
the church. 

It would conduce to great good, to determine as clearly 
as possible the origin, scope, and burden of preaching as 
a religious institution ; and especially to discover the 
cause of the mournful decay which is gradually destroy- 
ing this source of high and precious power. 

There is in the printing press, of course, a cause that 
would naturally be expected to circumscribe the pulpit, 
and greatly modify the influence of the preacher. But it 
should not necessarily weaken that influence. Its legiti- 
mate efi'ect should only be to strengthen the preacher, 
by throwing his energies back into the one appointed 
sacred channel; and by furnishing him an intelligent 
and appreciative people to listen to his message. The 
press is continually engaged in disentangling, elimina- 
ting and distilling truth ; in working away to solve the 
intricate problems of human life and government; in 
portraying the sad consequence of sin, in contrast with 
the blessedness of virtue. 

Then, unless ignorance be the ground of religion, the 
press is not a ruthless enemy, but a friendly and puis- 
sant ally of the pulpit. 
6 



66 THE WORM-EATEN PULPIT. 

However, notwithstanding this pleasing consideration, 
we must acknowledge that the press, in changing the 
face of the world, and in giving undreamed of movements 
and combinations to life's great battle, has laid strong 
hands upon the pulpit ; and has placed the ministry 
under pressing necessity to abandon its long train of 
baggage wagons, to throv/ aside every encumbering weight 
and with the simple armor and sword of Christ, begin to 
war for the truth, as has not been done in the last score 
of years. 

In order to find the efficient cause which, unless it be 
removed, will soon or late bring irremediable ruin upon 
the now already worm-eaten pulpit ; it may be well to 
review some of the clearest characteristics of our genera- 
tion. 

We live in a period of history that might be fittingly 
termed the Meteoric Age. Everything is marked by 
breathless hurry, flash and boom, followed by intervals 
of silence and night. The very atmosphere about our 
heads is tremulous with abnormal excitement ; and the 
spirit of peace, like a frightened bird, has flown beyond 
our horizon. Men's nerves have become intensely elec- 
trified ; their brains are feverish, and all their actions 
are hurried. 

True, here and there may be seen some eccentric 
individual who is content to live and work in the old 
conservative way ; but the multitudes rush — struggling 
wildly on, as though stung and driven by the very demon 
of unrest. Impatience with any and every kind of 
restraint is universal ; the absolute and unlimited rights 
of freemen, is a favorite topic ; and the prevalent idea of 



THE WORM-EATEN PULPIT. 67 

freedom is license to do, or not to do, simply as indi- 
vidual inclination may prompt. 

Pride is as strong as the love of life ; and people are 
possessed with an almost unscrupulous ambition to keep 
up, in the fashionable sense, with the times. They 
demand novelty and excitement. Hence the impress 
of the spirit of vanity and restlessness may be seen 
upon all the manifestations of modern life. 

In education, the time was when it required hard 
study, thorough drill, and restricted application to a few 
studies to make the respectable scholar. And while, on 
account of the labor and patience requisite, comparative- 
ly few were turned out upon the world as scholars, yet 
they were men of strong ability, because of their massive 
attainments and ripe culture. 

Now, there is an immense amount of show and sham in 
our educational system. There are magnificent buildings, 
splendid libraries. Boards of Education, and Institutes. 
There are Colleges and Universities without number. 
There is plenty of system, stilted theory and abominable 
regime ; but there is very little solid worth in the inflat- 
ing, veneering factories called schools. Of course, we 
recognize some noble exceptions. 

Every child in the land is given an armful of text 
books ; but only a few ever get more than a vain smat- 
tering of what is in them. Hurried over the universe as 
though riding a comet, they return with a blurred, dim 
notion of many things, but with a clear conception or 
positive knowledge of nothing. Perhaps, the influence 
of this nineteenth century spirit has nowhere fallen with 
more damaging efi'ect than it has upon the pulpit. In a 
generation almost gone, the preacher was emphatically 



68 THE WORM-EATEN PULPIT. 

God's man. He was a humble messenger who caused 
the people to tremble by his terrible denunciations of 
sin ; who, in God's name, and without respect to persons, 
commanded all men everywhere to repent; who with 
eloquence made sublime by awful earnestness, pointed to 
the Lamb of God, and proclaimed a sinless immortality. 

He came avowedly not in his own strength, and be- 
lieved with whole-souled faith that all that gave authority 
and power to his mission was in the divine message he 
brought. 

He was so unphilosophical, according to the world's 
estimate, as to think that the way of Christ and his 
Apostles is the only way to save the world. He made a 
passion of his calling, and worked with holy enthusiasm. 
He delighted day and night to meditate upon the Word 
of God, and often stole apart to pray in secret. He did 
not regard himself set for opposition to the solecisms of 
railing infidels, or the dreamy hypotheses of scientists, 
but for a grander work — the defense and proclamation of 
the Gospel, 

He may not have been able to lecture on the one-celled 
monad, as being the tiny gate through which the vast 
procession of life on the globe has evolved ; but he could 
and did speak of the Omnipotent God who made heaven 
and earth ; of the Holy One who cannot look with the 
least degree of allowance upon sin ; of the glorious Savior 
whom men must accept or perish ; and of the Pearly 
Gates through which the white-robed throng shall enter 
into the City of Peace. 

And men heard him gladly ! There was but little of ease 
and bodily comfort in his life. He would ride on horse- 
back a hundred miles over the wild prairie, or through 



THE WORM-EATEN PULPIT. 69 

the primeval forest to preach to a few lowly people in a 
barn or log school-house. 

Such men deserve to be honored and remembered 
among earth's well-doers ; and are bound to stand up 
high ... 

"In the kingdom a coming!" 

It is related of Bishop Warburton that on one occasion, 
when a young man asked, "Would you advise me to 
become a preacher? " he instantly replied, " Not if you 
can help it!" 

And the typal preacher of whom I speak could not 
help it. His whole being was instinct with love of 
Christ. It was simply a moral iaipossibility for him to 
move on in selfish, thankless silence, and tell no man. 
A fireless sun swinging darkling in the heavens, is as 
conceivable as the soul of such a man held mute by any 
earthly consideration. 

But, now it has come to pass that the ministry is 
looked upon as a sort of polite and easy profession ; and 
young men at college quietly discuss the comparative 
honors and advantages of Ministy, Law and Medicine ; 
while the zealous Professor of the Chair of the Bible, feels 
called upon to persuade all the goodish students of the 
University to enter his class. 

At the end of each collegiate session he turns out 
smooth and finished preachers, in almost as great quan- 
tity and with as much facility, as a patent machine turns 
out shingles, ''all of the same timber, size and weight!" 
And to the tempest-threatened world what are they worth 
a hundred ? 



70 THE WORM-EATEN PULPIT. 

They are rarely ever well rounded, broad leafed, deep 
rooted men of sturdy manhood ; but are often one sided, 
weak and unnatural — so unmanlike and even unwoman- 
like, that many people have come to think that there is 
a simple statement of fact in the laughing irony of Sydney 
Smith, who borrowed from the French the saying : 

"There are three sexes — 
Men, women, and clergymen." 

Many a professional preacher of our day is little more 
than a moral essayist, a religio-philosophical lecturer, or 
a skilled pulpit fighter who has much more taste for 
polemic speech than for the ministry of grace. 

He is rated a great preacher, if he have learning, 
eloquence and tact to satisfy the dainty and dyspeptic 
appetite of the public. 

This modern popular minister is expected to send up 
a coruscating rocket once a week. He must cull from 
the garden of all literature the sweetest exotic flowers, 
and present them dripping with dew, fresh and beautiful, 
to his admirers. He must fill the air with gold mist and 
delicious perfumes ; and, assisted by the finest musicians, 
make his service the very ideal of paradisiacal delight. 

Of course he avoids that rudeness of speech which 
would jostle the consciences of his people, and therefore 
ignores all unpleasant truth. Many of the dreadful 
warnings of the Bible, this clergyman of lily fingers and 
exquisite delicacy, would consider it ungentlemanly to 
repeat before his congregation. 



THE WORM-EATEN PULPIT. 71 

He is ready and glad to preach upon the latest exciting 
topics of the day. He entertains his soul-famished flock 
with readings of choice selections from the poets and the 
school of Mark Twain. He deliveis lectures upon 
scientific themes ; and while the profound but modest 
sage of science may decline to dogmatize upon the con- 
jectural theories of material philosophy, hesitates not to 
announce that he will on the next Sunday explode the 
last theory of the thinkers, and furnish the indubitable 
solution of the vexed question. 

Around his lectures he wreathes a great deal of senti- 
ment which he is pleased to dignify with the name of 
love; but his conceptions of Divine love are in no wise 
modified by any thought of the majesty and eternal 
Tightness of the law of God. The only notion of be- 
nevolence in which he delights is that of Uncle Toby, 
who would not kill or hurt a fly for the world, but take 
it tenderly by the leg and put it out of the window. 

Now, I am no owl to hide in the dark and hoot at t-he 
sunbright world; but surely this prostitution of the 
sacred desk has grown to be a gigantic folly — an enor- 
mous evil in our land ; and unless it is speedily put 
away, there can be no high hope for the church and the 
nation. 

Can it be a matter for reasonable surprise that there is 
so little of prayer, reverence and piety in the church ; 
that there is no cohesive power to bind the members, 
and that there is often anarchy and unblushing sin 
rampant in the congregation, when preachers are given 
to any and everything under the sun, save the one sacred 
work to which they are called by the voice of God and 
of humanity? 



72 THE WORM-EATEN PULPIT. 

The clergy need not anathematize the infidel and the 
secular press ; need not weakly conclude that Christi- 
anity is waning — it is God's truth and cannot wane ! 
"Jliey may not think that the last days have come, and 
charge the gloomy state of religious affairs to the natural 
depravity of human nature, or to a possible want of 
efiiciency in the gospel of Christ. But they do need to 
recognize the fact that, while occupying the position of its 
ministers, they themselves, by their folly, have been the 
most dangerous foes of the Christian religion. 

By yielding to the tide of the world, and listening to 
the overtures of earthly ambition, they have, alas — 

" * * * lent their gift 
To bUght and mar the moral universe, 
And set adrift 
The anchored hopes of millions." 

In other words, I mean to affirm that preachers have 
themselves to blame for the deterioration of their in- 
fluence, and the gradual decay of the pulpit ; and all, 
because they have lost sight of the truth', that preaching 
is a strictl}' divine institution, and the preacher only an 
humble agent for a specific and definite work. It is a 
historical fact that this institution did not originate in 
the wisdom of man, but in the wisdom of the founder of 
the Christian religion, and is really one of its distinctive 
peculiarities. 

True, whenever and wherever men have been gathered 
into communities, as in tribes, nations and cities, indi- 
viduals have, from force of nature and of circumstances, 
risen up to instruct, persuade and command their fellow- 
men by the power of orator3\ Hence public speaking 



THE WOEM-EATEN PULPIT. 73 

may be regarded a thing of necessity, growing out of the 
wants of society. But public speaking and preaching 
are far from being the same thing. As a divine appoint- 
ment, preaching should be held just as sacred as the 
religion which it was intended to proclaim. 

Were it an institution that had gradually grown out of 
the religious aspirations and expedients of men, there 
would be the greatest latitude in the province of the 
preacher; and the pulpit might with propriety become 
the rostrum for the discussion of any subject within the 
realm of thought. As it is, both religiously and logically, 
not only is the preacher shut up to the pulpit, but over 
that pulpit is written the charge, as if in letters of blood, 
more impressive than the fiery hand writing upon Bel- 
shazzar's wall — 

PREACH THE WORD I 

This may suggest the important question : What is the 
true scope and intention of preaching? The answer 
involves some points worth consideration, rarely thought 
of, and the neglect of which has produced much confusion 
and evil. We find then, that the aim of preaching most 
certainly is not political. Indeed, unless indirectly, it 
hardly touches the affairs of State. And this may not 
cause any alarm among the intelligently patriotic. For 
we have statesmen, politicians and the great public press, 
to occupy the field of politics ; and, beyond question, 
they are far more competent than the ministry to educate 
and control the people in the things of Ca3sar's empire. 

It is not philosophical ; and the vain discussions of 
Philosophy and Science should be summarily remanded 
to the schools and lecture halls, where they rightly 



74 THE WORM-EATEN PULPIT. 

belong. In brief, to speak positively, the aim of preach- 
ing is one worthy an institution born of infinite wisdom 
and goodness, — it is to save men. To save them from 
the power of sin and despair and death. The human 
race has been ruined by sin ; it is lost and doomed to die. 
Men have no knowledge or power to save themselves. 
Universal history proclaims that if ever redeemed at 
all, man must look for help and deliverance from on 
high. For thousands of years the spirit of humanity 
cried out through the dark for light and salvation. And 
mighty was the effort to find the answer. 

Men who had climbed up, and stood overawed upon the 
sublimest heights of thought and men trudging along on 
the lowly ground of common sense, alike endeavored to 
find some remedy for the evil which has stricken the 
race with woe and death. 

But all in vain ! Human philosophy had undertaken 
a task which was above and beyond the reach of finite 
hands; which the Almighty and Omniscient God alone 
could accomplish. So that when the fullness of time 
had come, and ''the world by wisdom knew not God; 
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save 
them that believe." In God's great name to preach 
Christ and Him crucified ; to persuade men to obey the 
will of God, in order that they may be saved, compre- 
hends the all in all of the preacher's mission. And in 
that clear and glorious mission is man's only hope. In 
itself it is all sufficient ; outside of it, there is nothing to 
break the thraldom of sin, or dispel the fear of death 
and the darkness of despair ! 

The youthful subject of this memorial, Berty Stover, 
was in many respects a model preacher, worthy of study 



THE WORM-EATEN PULPIT. 75 

and of imitation — if we should imitate any earthly being. 
It cannot be questioned among those who saw and heard 
him, that he stood ever in the pulpit and before men 
clad in singular strength ; that there was strange might 
in his words ; and that the good which he accomplished 
was remarkable, if not astounding. 

I think the secret of his success was his absolute con- 
secration to the work, his glowing enthusiasm, and his 
perfect reliance upon the gospel to achieve the work 
whereunto God appointed it. 

No one could look upon his face, listen to his speech, 
so full of tender pathos and soul power, and then for a 
moment doubt his sincerity. The Bible was his constant 
and absorbing study ; and he loved the New Testament 
especially, ''with a fervid love passing strange." De- 
spite the anxious advice of friends, and the interdict of 
many physicians, it was impossible for him to rest and 
refrain from preaching. In the pulpit and out of the 
pulpit, traveling on the highway, or sitting by the fire- 
side, he was everywhere the same busy preacher, anxious 
for the spread of the truth and the salvation of souls. 
Sometimes, when I have been walking or sitting by his 
side, I have known him suddenly to become absent- 
minded, wrapt in silence, while a distressed look stole 
over his pale face, and then at last he would audibly 
murmur to himself his favorite battle-cry : 

" Time flies, death urges, knells 
Call * * heaven invites." 



CHAPTER VI. 



HIS EARLY PREACHING. 

"Let no man despise thy youth !" 

— Paul, the aged Apostle, to Timothy. 

One bright, beautiful Sunday morning, the morning of 
Berty's fourteenth birthday, June 26, 1867, he fixed him- 
self up, had his horse, old " Pony," saddled, and started 
off without saying a word to anyone of his intention, and 
rode out to Indian Creek Church, some eight miles west 
of Ladoga. 

At that place, and on that day, young Newton Wilson, 
son of the noted preacher, blind Billy Wilson, and a 
former schoolmate of Berty, had an appointment to 
preach. Upon his arrival at the church, Berty was 
invited to a seat in the pulpit. Wilson delivered a short 
sermon on the subject of the " Christian Armor," having 
first announced that the youthful brother Berty Stover, 
would follow him, in exhortation. 

At the close of the sermon, Berty rose up before the 

audience; with a pale face, but without any tremor of 

fear. He was so small that he could hardly look out 

over the front board of the old-fashioned pulpit stand. 

In a subdued, sweet and clear tone of voice he began, 

and spoke twenty minutes on the same theme. He very 

(76) 



HIS EARLY PREACHING. 77 

graphically pictured the Christian soldier, clad in his 
beautiful and impenetrable armor, his terrible foes, 
his sublime warfare, his heaven-wrought sword, and 
the glorious crown awaiting him at last. While he spoke 
the people listened with profound and astonished atten- 
tion ; and many of the older men and women sat weep- 
ing from joy — while they wondered at his gracious 
speech. 

He was so young, so small, so childlike, yet so power- 
ful in eloquence, that he was at once recognized as one 
born to be a master of assemblies. Being requested to 
do so, he administered the bread and wine of the Lord's 
Supper, and with grace and dignity, as though a veteran 
minister. 

The sensation in the community was great ; and from 
that time on he was called — The Boy Preacher. 

A number of people insisted that he should consent to 
preach at old Hebron, Putnam County, on Sunday, one 
month from that day. He did so, and the appointment 
was quickly spread abroad. The day came and brought 
early a great multitude together, so that the church and 
yard were both filled with people. He spoke nearly one 
hour, and with fine effect. 

When he returned home, his father inquired, '' Well, 
Berty how did you come out at Hebron?" 

" Oh ! I made a sort of failure : A lot of women kept 
up such a crying all the time that it troubled me, and I 
did not do so well as I might have done !" Said his step- 
mother, "Berty, I guess they all felt sorry for you — 
because you are so small, and they could not help crying 
for fear you would break down." 



78 HIS EARLY PREACHING. 

^* Well," said he, '' I wish they had kept their mouths 
shut, and not bothered me so much. There's Mahona 
the Catholic girl, why, she was as big a simpleton as the 
old woman who teaches school over there. They kept 
crying and sobbing the whole time. They need not have 
been so scared about me any how !" 

Many men declared that they had never heard such 
thrilling appeals in the name of Christ, as they heard 
that day from the lips of this mere child. 

One who was present, recently writing of the occasion, 
says : 

'^ Yes, I love to remember that day at old Hebron — 
the way that boy talked of the Savior was grand beyond 
description. Those who were there, will never forget it." 

From that time forward^ the name of Berty Stover 
would call together all ages, classes and conditions of 
people, whenever he was announced to preach at his 
own home church, or anywhere in the neighboring towns 
and counties. 

He had honor in his own country. The people were 
always proud of him as their own most talented son, 
and loved him for his faultless character. 

They knew him to be gentle, pure, spotless — and free 
from all falsehood. 

If it be possible for poor mortality to demonstrate the 
falsity of the doctrine of " The hereditary depravity of 
human nature," in his whole life he gave that demon- 
stration to the world. 

By the time that he was seventeen he was a preacher 
of considerable experience and reputation. 

On July 9th, 1870, he started from home on a preach- 
ing tour through Indiana and Illinois, in compliance 



HIS EARLY PREACHING. 79 

with numerous invitations, and from the desire to see 
for himself the condition of the churches in that section 
of country. He first preached at the Battle ground 
church in Tippecanoe County, where, to use his own 
words in a letter to his father, he "found religious life 
low and feeble, the church really broken up — no preacher, 
no elder, no deacons, no meetings, the fire all gone 
out." From there he went to Oilman, finding the 
church in the same deplorable state of ruin. Thence on 
to Remington where the Methodists had been given the 
use of the meeting house, as the Disciples rarely met 
for public worship. 

Having visited and preached at several other points 
beside those mentioned, on the last of the month he 
arrived at Marshall, Illinois, and stopped with Mr. 
Charles Chenoweth, by whom he was treated with high 
and kind consideration. At that place he preached a num- 
ber of rousing discourses, as usual to large and attentive 
audiences. Says the Marshall newspaper, August 6, 
1870. " A young lad of the name of Stover, only seven- 
teen years of age, has been occupying the pulpit of the 
Christian Church for several nights during the week. 
Every one that has heard him, speaks in terms of the 
highest admiration of his abilities, and religious zeal. 
He has commenced his ministerial labors remarkably 
early in life, and it is to be hoped that his future pro- 
gress will be what his wonderful precocity seems to fore- 
shadow. We wish the boy all he may desire. " 

What Berty saw of the churches during this tour had 
a very depressing influence upon his spirit. He had 
met many hundreds who were professedly Disciples of 
Christ, but he was troubled to find comparatively so 



80 HIS EAKLY PREACHING. 

very few who were actually living as prayerful, humble 
and loving followers of the Lord. 

He boldly declared from the pulpit his sorrowful con- 
viction that the mass of the church were under some 
fatal, stupefying spell of delusion. That he found men 
and women everywhere in the churches., wrapped in won- 
drous self-complacency, but who had not the dimmest 
conception of the true mission of Christ, the meaning of 
the Gospel, and the intention of the church. Their idea 
of the Christian profession — apparent in their talk and 
conduct, began and ended with "the first principles." 
There was something radically wrong ; the Disciples were 
undeniably becoming narrow and bigoted in mind, and 
fruitless in life. They were doing little to save the world 
— very little to become Christians in character . They 
were full of partisan spirit, wasting their time and 
strength in unprofitable controversies about the mode 
and design of baptism, about the eldership, musical 
instruments in churches, and missionary societies. These 
had been lifted into the place of first importance, to 
the great and alarming neglect of all questions of real 
vital interest. They were the sweet and copious themes, 
that had about monopolized speakers, talkers and writers. 
He thought the time had come when Christians should be 
ashamed to waste their lives in fighting harmless bug- 
bears ; when they should begin in hot earnest, all along the 
line, the battle against the world, the flesh and the devil. 

His stirring appeals to the church to repent, shook, 
surprised and troubled the people, and much good 
resulted from his eff'orts. However, some persons mur- 
mured ; and some knowing saints hesitated not to pro- 
nounce him a heretic. 



HIS EARLY PREACHING. 81 

One old elder known to be " sound in the faith," who 
had never made a sacrifice in his life to save a soul, took 
Berty to one side, and gravely exhorted him — " Read 
the Sound Organ " and travel a while with some one of 
our big preachers, and learn how to handle the old Jeru- 
salem blade, so that you can carry the war into Afriky, 
and make the sects give up their sinful creeds. This 
thing, my son, of fighting your own people, brings 
shame on '' the Reformation," and gives the sectarians 
and infidels a chance to scoff at us. It is a very bad 
business !" 

Berty thanked him in gentle words, for his weighty 
advice, and then walked away ; remarking afterwards 
that his heart would not allow him to answer harshly 
the blind, and he regarded the old elder as a hopelessly 
blind man. 

He returned home about the middle of the month, 
sick, and broken down from fatigue and too great mental 
excitement. * * * * 

Berty again left home in April, 1871, to visit the 
churches in southern Illinois ; and preached at Shaker 
Prairie, Oaktown, Vincennes and Eflingham. While at 
the last place. Rev. William Sweeney of Iowa heard of 
his preaching, and came on at once to see and hear him. 

He soon began to urge Berty to return with him to 
Iowa, and visit the churches at Dubuque. Finally, after 
much persuasion, he consented to go, and arrived at the 
city of Dubuque on the first of May. He was warmly 
received into the pleasant home of Mr. William Carter ; 
and within a few days was surprised to find himself 
unanimously elected Pastor of the Christian church at 
Dubuque. 



82 HIS EARLY PREACHING. 

The two city papers frequently noticed in complimen- 
tary manner his efforts in the pulpit. 

I insert the first two that appeared, as giving interest- 
ing items of his history : 

A PULPIT PRODIGY. 

• Dubuque Herald, Tuesday, May 2, 1871: ''Mr. B. 
Stover, a young man of seventeen years, has been occu- 
pying the pulpit of the Christian church for the two Sab- 
baths last past and astonishing and delighting his hearers 
with his eloquence and philosophy. He earnestly pro- 
tests against newspaper mention, but his numerous 
friends predict that if he retains his health, he will make 
a stir in the theological world before he arrives at matu- 
rity. He was out, very unwillingly though, at Good Tem- 
plar's Hall, in the afternoon Sunday, and talked upon 
temperance. He afterward confessed to feeling entirely 
nonplussed by the invitation to speak. He had never 
heard but two lectures on the subject, though he had read 
some on it, and he did not know what to say. The 
thought of ''the formation of the coral reef," however 
occurred to him, and making this a staiting point he 
talked temperance very freely for some thirty minutes. 
The meeting was addrssed briefly by two or three other 
speakers. Elder Sweeny had been advertised to speak at 
this hall, but he spoke in DeWitt instead. 

" Mr. Stover is the son of Mr. Daniel C. Stover who will 
be remembered by some of our older citizens, as he lived 
in this region in the days of the Blackhawk war, and if 
we are rightly informed was one of the early settlers of 
Iowa City. He afterwards removed to Ladoga, Indiana. 



HIS EARLY PREACHING. 83 

His son, who is now justly, drawing some attention to 
the name of this ancient and honorable family, is 1lO*v 
going through a course of studies at the Kentucky Uni- 
versity, and his visit here is for recreation and the im- 
provement of his health." 

CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

Dubuque Times, May 12: "The boy preacher, Mr. 
Stover, preached as usual in the Christian church on 
Sunday, The text from which he preached in the even- 
ing was: ''Search the Scriptures, etc." We are in- 
formed by an excellent judge of pulpit oratory and effec- 
tive appeal, that the boy preacher made a remarkably 
fine and forcible address. He was not in the least dis- 
concerted, it is said, though a drunken loafer, who came 
in and took a seat near the door was muttering in an 
audible voice for a long time, while he was speaking ; 
and the commotion caused by two or three men seizing 
the intruder and pitching him out the door, was so great 
that it caused a young lady present to faint — yet the 
young preacher maintained his position, kept the thread 
of his discourse, and (only remarking when the pesti- 
lential fellow had been pitched out, that he thought they 
would now be permitted to finish the service, as the dis- 
turbance seemed to have been quelled) finished his 
address with all the ease and fervor of an old preacher. 
The child is father to the man. " 

On the last of August, he left Dubuque and returned to 
Kentucky University. 

As previously stated, he preached during his Uni- 
versity life as often as his strength, and duties at college 



84 HIS EARLY PREACHING. 

would permit. And there, as elsewhere the people 
heard him with delight. He made a noise wherever he 
went ! 

Below is one of many public tributes called forth by his 
singular pulpit power. Bro. John Sweeney was one of 
Berty's dearest friends, and must have been amused to 
see how his youthful substitute for one Sunday, had 
taken the community by storm ; even more amused by the 
after thought, and meek apology of the editor. 

The True KentucJcian, Paris, June 5th, 1872: ''Rev. 
Stover, a young student at Kentucky University, preached 
two admirable discourses last Sunday at the Christian 
church. His themes although simple were a happy 
relief from the dull platitudes with which we are so often 
regarded. We hope he may come often." 

One week later. — "Rev. Stover, who preached here 
last Sunday week, is only eighteen years of age, and has 
been preaching since he was fourteen years of age. Con- 
sidering that, we complimented him, and said that his 
discourses were a happy relief from the dull platitudes 
with which we were so often regaled, meaning by we the 
world in general. Not meaning, as some have construed 
our language, that Elder Sweeney was in the habit of 
delivering dull platitudes. We have too often compli- 
mented Elder S. for us to have intended to wound his 
feelings." 

The Journal of another city, later in the same month 
of June, says : " Berty Stover, a youth of about eighteen 
summers, preached last Sunday morning and evening at 
the Christian church. For one of his years it can be 
truly said that he is a remarkable preacher. If he is not 
spoiled before he reaches mature manhood he will be 



HIS EARLY PREACHING. 85 

capable of accomplishing great good for the cause of 
which he is now such a zealous and eloquent advocate." 

He preached at Carlisle, Mt. Sterling, Paris, North 
Middletown, Elkhorn, Nicholasville and other places. 

At all these places he had large audiences, and was 
instrumental in adding many converts to the churches. 
He received several flattering calls to locate in the 
state, but declined them all, as he preferred to return 
to Dubuque. Berty was a shrewd observer, and a good 
judge of human nature ; would form an estimate of a 
man or woman almost at first glance, and very seldom 
was his opinion changed after a more extended acquain- 
tance. He had the strange intuitive faculty of a Vv^oman 
in thus coming to a conclusion about the character of 
others. He claimed that he was instantly, and sensibly 
either attracted, or repelled by almost every one that he 
met. He never forgot a face ; and his memory, and 
comparative study and classification of persons, made 
that department of his mind like the workshop of a 
phrenologist. He studied carefully to find the real 
character of the preachers in Kentucky, for they im- 
pressed him as being a difi'erent style of men from those 
he had met on the other side of the Ohio. To give in 
detail the features of each individual character as he 
delineated it would make a curious and interesting 
paper. 

Some of the preachers in central Kentucky he learned 
to esteem as great and good men. Some of them he 
thought rated their own abilities far too high, and 
demanded entirely too much homage. These he said 
seemed to him to believe that Kentucky was Heaven, and 
they themselves the keepers of the gates. It struck him 



86 HIS EARLY PREACHING. 

as being verj funny, that several priestly gentlemen — 
who were themselves from other states, and who were 
fattening on the fields which they never planted, whilst 
the old toilers were actually driven away, took pains to 
let people know that he was an Indiana abolitionist ! 

Being a fearless and very pleasing speaker the people 
were inclined to lionize him, and very naturall}'' spoke 
with admiration of his rare gifts. This aroused some 
jealousy, and there were several preachers— of what 
imponderable littleness, and what manner of spirit! who 
never lost an opportunity to stab this popular en- 
thusiasm, and if possible his fair and enviable reputa- 
tion. One prominent preacher took public occasion to 
express in biting words his august contempt for the 
pulpit efforts of beardless boys ! 

The pure, loving and brilliant boy, Berty, had preached 
Jesus from that same pulpit the Sunday previous ; and 
with such rare and moving eloquence, that the people 
were loud in his praise. It is said, tbat the aged 
Comanche Indian Chief is filled with wrath, when he 
hears the tribe proudly rehearsing the heroic deeds of 
some young and rising brave ; he watches his chance 
with great cunning, secretly to send a poisoned arrow to 
the young brave's heart. 

With as much admiration for the savage chieftain, as 
for the spirit of that distinguished priest in Kentucky's 
Israel, I here put upon record the fact, that those bitter, 
unmanly, and unchristianly words, which ho spoke 
that long ago Sunday morning, went as poisoned darts 
to the heart of Berty Stover ; they painfully wounded 
him, and crippled his beautiful childlike faith. 



HIS EARLY PREACHING. 87 

It may be all right for such men to assume the 
authority of absolute oracles to as noble a people as the 
sun shines upon ; but we envy not the xjreacher whose 
Christian sympathy cannot cross a river; or who has 
no tender fellow feeling, no c?ieering word, no willing 
hand to smoothe the way of the young minister of the 
Gospel. 

Berty's preaching was not puerile — he spoke not as a 
child, but as a very thoughtful man, and his sermons 
were rich in the wealth of Gospel truth. True, his 
speech was so simple that children could understand it, 
but men and women, aged and experienced, by it were 
induced to accept the Savior. A majority of those 
whom he baptized were heads of families. 

It was a novel and touching sight to see him, a slender 
youth, sixteen or seventeen years of age, leading old men 
and women down into the water and baptizing them. 

No person could witness the solemn scene and be 
unmoved; and the gravity that he would always lend' 
the occasion, rendered it all the more impressive. 



CHAPTER VII. 



ADDRESS BY BERTY STOVER AT A CHRISTMAS 

EVE FESTIVAL IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 

LADOGA, DECEMBER 24th, 1872. 



" Calm on the listening ear of night 
. Come Heaven's melodious strains, 
Where wild Judea stretches far 
Her silver mantled plains. 

Celestial choirs, from courts above, 

Shed sacred glories there ; 
And angels, with their sparkling lyres 

Make Music on the air. 

The answering hills of Palestine 

Send back the glad reply. 
And greet from all their holy heights 

The day-spring from on high. 

** Glory to God !" the sounding skies, 

Loud with their anthems ring, 
** Peace to earth, good will to men !" 

From heaven's eternal King." 

The morning stars together sung, and the beautiful 

angels shouted joyously praises to the Great I Am, when 

he meted out the land and sea, and hung over them the 

sun-lit arch of heaven. 

(88) 



Al^DEESS BY BERTY STOVEH, 89 

More joyous far than earth's prime hour, was the 
momentous morn when Bethlehem's wondrous star an- 
nounced the Savior's birth. 

More glorious the song of the angels, sublimer the 
music of the spheres, grander the bells of the universe, 
as they all rang out and sounded the sweet refrain, 
^' Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace — good 
will to men !" 

The first were songs of admiration over a new world 
created ; the second were grateful shouts of joy over that 
world, so long lost — now redeemed. 

The same night on which the loving angels sang the 
first Christmas carol has come again with all its glory 
and sweetness. It has come to earth 1872 times, but 
never growing old ; it is still clothed in a beauty which 
is a joy forever ; and still wakes the nations to thank- 
fulness. 

Its very name to the childish mind is an open sesame 
to the realms of wonder and delight ; to the older it 
brings impressive thought of the unspeakable mercy and 
goodness of our Heavenly Father. With its every ap- 
proach come to sin troubled men recollections of Christ, 
his lowly birth, his ministering life, his saving death. 
At no other time are we so forcibly reminded of the fact, 
that Jesus was not alone the Son of God, but also Son of 
David; in the sweetest, tenderest, fullest sense. The 
Man — our elder Brother — The Man of Sorrows. And this 
the day we celebrate in memory of the birth of Him 
whom prophets said should come ; the day which Abra- 
ham looking forward saw and was glad, the day which 
the saints of the old ages anticipated and longed for. 



90 ADDRESS BY BERTY STOVER. 

Glorious day, on which God stooped to kiss mankind, 
and with his own loving hand wipe away the tears of a 
world's agony. Day when men open their long shut 
up hearts, and think of the people around and below 
them as fellow travelers, fellow sufferers and fellow 
hopers. When the children come home from far and near, 
and gathered around the log-heaped ingle, to gladden 
once more the hearts of aged fathers and mothers. When 
Mammon locks up the shop, lays aside the scorpion 
lash, and allows the sons of toil a little rest in their hard, 
hard lives. When even old miser Scrooge sees ghosts 
that fill him with alarm at his own selfish meanness, 
and lead him to begin a new life by sending the biggest 
and fattest turkey in the market to poor Bob Cratchit's 
family for a Christmas dinner ; when, the heart o'f poor 
dear Tiny Tim is overflowing with gladness, and he 
shouts — '^ God bless us every one !" 



" Then carol, sweetly carol all, 
Throw all your cares away, 
. Rememb'ring that Christ our Lord 
Was born on Christmas day." 



May each one of us, standing here on the threshold of 
the most glorious of all anniversaries, have a share of 
that grateful joy experienced by the shepherds, as from 
the hilltops of Judea they saw the new fire burning 
and flashing on the plains of heaven, and as they enrap- 
tured, listened to the strain of the angelic messengers ! 

The veritable star of Bethlehem may long since have 
faded, but its light still lingers in the world, and shines 



ADDRESS BY BERTY STOVER. 91 

in our hearts. The angelic song we may not hear, but 
the echoes of its glad refrain thrill our souls. I do not 
say that the song is over and hushed, but simply not 
heard. Who knows ! It may be that as on each return 
of Christmas we renew our carol of praise ; so the grand 
angel choir that sung in the clear star-lit sky of that 
first Christmas morn, may sing in the darkness of each 
succeeding one. 

Who as a child has not thought this ? 

Who has not thought *' If I could wake early enough 
on the blessed day ; could rise, and go out under the 
twinkling stars, before the dawning, perhaps I too might 
see the star and the heavenly glory, and hear ' the mul- 
titude of the heavenly host ' chanting again the great 
song of praise !" 

And I sometimes think, that maybe we little children 
were wiser than we knew ; that although our earth born 
sense cannot catch the celestial cadence ; yet, up yonder 
in the blessed home of rest, the angel chorus does chant 
again, on each returning Christmas the same song that 
floated over the hills and valleys of Judea — when they 
themselves first wondering saw, ''The star, the manger 
and the child." 

There is something in the atmosphere of this monu- 
mental period that thrills the heart with a strange sense 
of undefined, but restful joy, even though outside affairs 
arc not at their brightest, skies are dark, and underfoot 
it is damp and frosty. 

There is a feeling of such blessedness abroad, one 
might almost believe that at this time the Master had 
for a little while left his throne in glory, to walk again, 
though invisible, once more on earth, by his personal 



92 ADDRESS BY BERTY STOVERo 

presence to shed abroad love and peace, and comfort in 
this sorrowful world. 

Let us now for a moment if possible work ourselves up 
to the belief that this thing might be — najj rather let us 
think that He — the glorious Lord, is coming in person, 
openly and visible to all, to spend this Christmas here 
in our midst. How think you he would act? 

He would scarce tarry long in the house of feasting ; 
not long even in the house of prayer ; but among the 
troubled, among the poor, the freezing and starving, 
among the sick and dying, would the Master go, to carry 
sympathy and comfort for all ! The lowly suffering 
ones — even the wretches w^ho are without the pale of 
what the world calls respectability — would again, as 
once before, be the objects of his pity and ministering 
love. 

You, ! man of business, strong and proud in your 
conscious integrity and sense of power, but wedded to 
business, to the greed of gain, insomuch that you lose 
sight of the query, *' What shall it profit a man, if he 
gain the whole world and lose his own soul ?" Should 
the Divine Presence, pausing in your office, look over 
your shoulder upon the ledger, might not you find the 
long lines of figures which chronicle your gains erased, 
and in their stead, traced by the celestial hand, the one 
brief sentence " He who giveth to the poor, lendeth to 
the Lord!" 

Lift up your eyes from the earth, and see the star that 
guided the wise men to a poor abode, even to a rude 
stable, and then look around and see if there are no poor 
abodes to which you also may be led. 



ADDRESS BY BERTY STOVER. 93 

And you earnest Christians who withal, sometimes 
forget that the spirit of the hiw is above the letter, put 
aside now for a time your Bible, your hymn book ; take 
your staff in hand and go your way among the miserable, 
the poor and oppressed ; go where sin and pain, crime 
and anguish have their gloomy retreats, and see if you 
cannot find some little work of mercy and loving kind- 
ness ready to your hands. If any of us have malice or 
hatred, have burning thoughts of evil concerning our 
fellow man, let us this night banish them, and walk 
henceforth among all bearing the spirit of Him who has 
taught us to love our brother man as ourself. 

" Let us be merry and thankful withal 
And feast our poor neighbors — < 

The great and the small ! " 

carols a quaint old poet ; and even though the words be 
not -so very grand, they have caught and embodied the 
very spirit of Christmas ; which is not only the season 
of rejoicing and of fervent thankfulness, but above all 
the season for benevolence, when every heart should 
feel its fellowship with all humanity ; in trial and 
sorrow and joy, its partnership with both ''The great 
and the small !" 

For we are all bound together in one common bond of 
brotherhood ; and any one who strives to attain an indi- 
vidual happiness, independent of the sympathies and 
needs of the world around him, fails ignominiously soon 
or late, and learns through that failure that true life 
means self-abnegation, as well as self-culture ; charity 
and loving kindness to the multitude, as well as selfish 
aggrandizement and enjoyment for the individual. 



94 ADDRESS BY BERTY STOVER. 

This is the great lesson which Christ came among men 
to teach. This the meaning of that injunction so often 
upon his lips, and the lips of his holy Apostles, " Love 
one another — love thy neighbor as thyself." 

The vv^orld is just beginning to understand and appre- 
ciate the beautiful doctrine of the universal fatherhood 
of God, and brotherhood of man. Our generation has 
given some grand results from the acceptance of this 
great doctrine. 

Review the heroic and stupendous struggles of thou- 
sands, through blood and storm and fire, who fought in 
our late war, to break and destroy forever the cruel chains 
of slavery. Look at the noble work of the Sanitary Com- 
mission as it hovered like some strong, white angel of 
pity and love about the woeful battle-field. Witness how 
the heart of the world throbbed in sympathy and aroused 
millions, in a charity truly sublime, to send bountiful 
help to Chicago, Boston and Wisconsin, when remorse- 
less fire had left thousands of families homeless, and at 
the point of starving and freezing. These all, are but 
some of the patent fruits of the life and teaching of Him, 
whose birth we celebrate to-night. 

Our father above, grant that the time may come 
when it shall be written of us as a nation, ' ' They followed 
Christ; they helped every one his neighbor, and every 
one said to his brother — ' Be of good courage !'" 

This is a brave, grand old world after all ; worth 
living in and worth working in ! 

Our race is going up, not down ; forward, not backward, 
and is worth dying for now if ever ; and the Son of God 
gave his life for it long, long ago. 



ADDRESS BY BERTY STOVER. 95 

Slowly but none the less surely is earth learning to 
echo back the angel chant. Men are looking more to the 
glorious Christ, closer, nearer are men drawing to God, 
and closer to one another. And the time is coming when 
hatred shall cease to be, when man shall no longer per- 
secute his fellow man, when the sword shall be broken, 
and the cannon's fearful thunder be forever hushed. • 

It is well that the world stops its busy din ; well that 
they who love God, who love man, the true and the 
good, should pause and give a little season in grateful 
memory of the birth of the ever glorious Prince, the 
world's Redeemer. May our hearts glow with love as 
we think of Him to-night ; and to-morrow may we every 
one try to carry light and joy to some poor heart for His 
sake. 

*' Say to those whose hearts are fainting - 
Rise, be strong , cast out your fear, 
Is not God, a God of mercy? 
When you call Him, he is near. 
Unto those who sat in darkness, 
Rose a wondrous shining light ; 
Those who dwelt in death's dark shadow, 
Passed from out sin's gloomy night. 

In the darkness, ere the dawning 
Over fair Judea's plain — • 

Brightly rose the star of morning ; 
Gladly burst the joyous strain. 
Through the blazing star lit heavens. 
Floated the celestial throng, 
And the awe-struck shepherds kneeling, 
Heard the glorious angel song. 

" Glory be to God— the highest ! " 

Thus the heavenly carol ran, 
" To the world is born her Savior, 



96 ADDRESS BY BERTY STOVER. 

Peace on earth, good will to man !" 
Be not fearful, ye people, 
Tidings of great joy we bring, 
Go ! to-day in David's city 
Now is born your Lord and King." 

Echoing downward through the ages, 
Eings the joyful song to-day, 
• Out upon the ear of nations, 

Driving gloom and fear away. 
Lift your hearts in adoration, 
O my people far and wide, 
Thanks to God, that the Redeemer, 
Christ our Savior, lived and died ! 

Father, in each sinful bosom 
Bid the star of hope arise. 
Roll the clouds of doubt and darkness. 
Backward from Faith's star-lit skies. 
Haste the day when from all nations. 
Loud the joyous song shall ring 
" Glory be to God the Highest, 
Hallelujah to our King ! " 



CHAPTER VIII. 



LOVE, AND RUBY ROLLINS. 



" She was his life, 
The ocean to the river of his thoughts 
Which terminated all." — Byron. 

" The sense of the world is short, 
Long and various the report, — 
To love and be beloved ; 
Men and gods have not outlearned it ; 
And, how oft so'er they've turned it, 
' Twill not be improved." — Em;erson. 

" Hearts are not flint, and flints are rent. 
Hearts are not steel, and steel is bent." — Scott. 



'^ Yes, I will be true to you! My whole life and all 
my love shall be devoted to you ; and if at sometime 
you will come and take me for your wife, I can and will 
wait for you through long years without distrust ; and if 
I die before you come, with my last breath will I pray 
for you ; if I have sense and memory left." 

These words so eloquent in their expression of a brave 
and trustful devotion, were spoken by a young girl, 
7 (97) 



98 LOVE, AND RUBY ROLLINS. 

about whose head sixteen summers had wreathed a nim- 
bus of glory, even more beautiful than her rich crown of 
auburn hair. 

Ruby Rollins was the only child of worthy parents, 
who lived in a snug home amid the green woods and 
yellow grain fields of a large farm in Indiana. 

As yet she had never known sorrow or trial ; and had 
enjoyed all the sweet and fostering influences which 
wealth and devoted parental love could command. 

She could not have been styled beautiful ; but her fair 
complexion in which there was an exquisite blending of 
the pink and snow of peach bloom, her large and lus- 
trous blue eyes ; her eloquent mouth, all made hers a 
rare and attractive face, about which one's eyes loved to 
linger. Her form was of medium height, finely developed 
and compactly built. She had a light, quick step, and 
her every motion was gracefully suggestive of buoyant 
health. There was witchery in her laugh or song, for 
her voice was soft and sweetly musical. She was very 
fond of flowers and music, and had a decided taste for 
polite literature. Refined and coy in her manners ; her 
dress was ever as tasteful in its pure and modest beauty 
as the blossoms which were her favorite ornaments. 

Possessed of brilliant conversational powers, she was 
a most captivating girl ; and considering with all else, 
her kind heart, no wonder that she was much admired 
and courted by the young men, who succeeded in gain- 
ing admittance to her rather exclusive society. 

When Ruby spoke the words recorded at the beginning 
of this chapter, she was standing in the evening twilight 
upon the lawn of a Southwestern college. 



LOVE, AND RUBY ROLLINS. 99 

Her face was now very pale ; tears were on her cheeks, 
and her small white hand nestled lovingly in the hand 
of Berty Stover. 

He appeared at that time a youth but little older 
than she, of slender, trim and elastic body, erect and 
soldiery in mien ; of finely shaped head, about which 
the flaxen hair was closely cut ; high and prominent 
forehead, clear blue eyes, large mouth with white teeth, 
fair hands and long tapering fingers. As ever through 
life his dress was faultlessly elegant. 

He was noble looking, and there was a peculiar air of 
greatness about him, which would have singled him out 
in any assembly as an extraordinary youth. 

He first met Ruby one day, many months previous to 
this, while she was attending a Female College. So well 
esteemed was he, that with approval of her parents, the 
teachers, contrary to custom and rigid rules of the insti- 
tution allowed him frequently to visit the young lady ; 
and he was selected to teach the class to which she be- 
longed in the Sunday school. 

For them both, that day of their first meeting, seemed 
a "dies faustus " — a day to be marked with a white 
stone ; for it was undoubtedly a violent case of mutual 
love at first sight ! 

For one, perhaps, only a passing fancy, a romantic 
passion that would soon be buried and forgotten; but 
for the other a serious and stubborn reality ; a love 
which could not die ; which would fill his soul, pervade 
and color his whole existence ; at last break his heart 
and send him in sorrow to the grave. 

There is a vine in the far South, which with green 
varnished leaves and white blossoms mantles the trees 



100 LOVE, AND RUBY ROLLINS. 

with wild beauty. It does not simply creep over and 
entwine about the tree ; it puts out numberless tiny 
fibrous roots which bury themselves in the trunk and 
branches of the tree. 

This clinging vine may not be transplanted after it has 
once encircled its object. 

Of course the tree would live on alone, but attempt to 
remove the vine, and you inflict a thousand bleeding 
wounds — you tear it from the very life of its life. 

It is so with the intense and constant natures of some 
men ; for them to change from the objects which they 
have once clasped with passion, is to perish. And so it 
was with the tenacious heart of Berty Stover. 

He gave himself in blind unreserved idolatry to Ruby 
Rollins ; and the charms of the most beautiful and accom- 
plished women, who in after life provokingly smiled 
upon him, and in several instances even essayed to win 
his admiration, were powerless to cool in the least the 
ardor of his devotion at this, his first and last earthly 
shrine. 

On the occasion of which we' speak, the young lovers 
had been compelled reluctantly to face and think of the 
future. Berty was to leave on the morrow for a distant 
place. He had told her of his plans, his high and eager 
ambition ; that he felt the time was at hand when he 
must begin to battle for position, honor and fortune. 
Said he, " Ruby from this time on, my mind and soul 
and body shall work, until I am able to come and ask 
you to share the worthy name and home that I hope to 
win. It may take long years T During that time prob- 
ably many a man will sue for your hand ; and it would 
be wrong for me to ask or accept any solemn vow from 



LOVE, AND RUBY ROLLINS. 101 

you to-night. You must be as free as the birds of the 
air. No chain shall be left around that lovely neck to 
chafe your innocent soul — if you should be tempted to 
give yourself to another. As for me, with you or with- 
out you, blessed or cursed, I feel that I shall continue 
all the same forever yours, while I live, when I die, and 
when I go to live up above. 

She replied, " Berty you talk so strangely, you must 
not imply a doubt ; I cannot change, and gladly would I 
go with you now to help you, share your toil and lot 
• wherever it maybe. Something tells me, Dear Heart, 
that you will climb up and up in life ; that you will 
succeed far more grandly than you dream ; and I am 
only afraid that when you get to be a great man you will 
forget me. Oh ! I dread to be left behind alone ; I 
could endure anything for the sake of being with you. 
True, we are so very young to think of marrying !" 

" Yes, Ruby we are too young, and I am not worthy. 
It would be mean and selfish for me to try to drag you 
through what I must pass.- But Blue Eyes do you really 
love me so much, and may I be made strong for every 
trial by the sweet belief that you will be true to me to 
the last?" 

We already know the answer which tremblingly rushed 
from her heart ; and then Berty whispered one word, 
and hastened away. She returned to the seclusion of 
her peaceful home ; and he went forth to engage actively 
in life's great and uncertain struggle. 

He grew rapidly in power and influence ; and although 
still so very young, before the end of two years he had won 
an enviable name in the pulpit and upon the rostrum. 



102 LOVE, AND RUBY ROLLINS. 

His love for Ruby grew with his growth. He carried 
her picture in the inner vest pocket just over his heart; 
and looked only at his worn Bible more often than he 
did at it. 

He told me once that he felt troubled on account of 
the fact, that sometimes when addressing large audiences, 
and when his speech seemed to flow without any conscious 
effort on his part, the eidolon of Ruby, vivid as life, 
would move about before him like a phantom. 

While I write, there is lying before me now a pile of 
old letters, whose scattered dates cover a space of some-, 
thing over five years. The sight of them is enough to 
cause one to think tenderly of those relics of " Love's first 
young dream," which were so carefully put away out of 
sight long ago, but which still exist deep down in the 
heart among all the dear withered flowers of memory. 
These letters are a few of the many that passed between 
Berty and Ruby ; and they reveal impassioned love and 
brilliancy of mind on the part of both. 

Hers are prettily written in a clear, delicate and flow- 
ing hand ; are short and breezy ; and through a long 
period they are unmistakably the outpourings of a genuine 
devotion . 

His are written in a vigorous and legible hand, 
although somewhat indistinctly, for he always wrote 
with flying rapidity. 

While reading them, one might be reminded of the 
ever varying reports of a Signal Service oflicer. 

At one time they indicate calm and delightful weather, 
when all the elements of nature are at rest, and the world 
is beautiful in the soft light of hope. At another, they 
tell of deluging rain, sweeping destruction over the land 



LOVE, AND RUBY ROLLINS. 103 



and then of hot drought, when the heavens are like a 
huge inverted brass caldron, and there is no green 
thing on the earth. 

Now, of cold and starless winter nights ; and then of mel- 
low June days when the sky is blue, and the air is filled 
with the perfume of roses and the melody of birds. Anon 
it is a day and night of howling tempest, when men 
shrink and shudder under shelter; and the poor little 
sparrows hide in the cedars, and may be, wonder if the 
end of the world has come ; when great ships are in 
distress at sea, and make awful efforts to gain the harbor ; 
and lifeless bodies, from wrecked vessels, are lashed in 
the foam all along against the shore. Then again it is 
calm Sunday — thank God ! the hallowed morn of the 
resurrection, when we hear the church bells calling the 
people up to the house of prayer, and a sense of holy 
peace steals over the soul. 

Through all, however, there is a constant stream of 
electric fire, the fire of his everburning and unchangeable 
love for Ruby Rollins. 

To the very last he worships the fair young creature 
whom he had idealized, and to whom he had from his 
own pure imagination attributed graces and excellences 
of mind and heart almost divine. 

As we continue reading Ruby's letters and notes, in 
the third year we begin to detect a change ! 

There is an absence of the wanted earnestness, of the 
old passionate and artless love. There is an air of em- 
barrassment, an indefinable but palpable effort that now 
renders her writing forced and tame. 

He began to suspect that something was wrong, and in 
1874, brought me one day two of her letters, saying 



104 LOVE, AND RUBY ROLLINS. 

'' You know what Ruby is to me, — now read these, and 
tell me frankly your interpretation of them. Their tone 
worries me. Do I expect too much, or can it be possible 
that she is becoming estranged from me ?" 

I read the letters slowly and thoughtfully and at last 
answered — 

'' Berty, I do not doubt that Ruby has grown to be a 
most lovable woman, but she is evidently much changed. 
She has been to much affected by adulation, and has 
grown more wordly in spirit. She does not sympathize 
with your godly ambition or appreciate rightly your 
love. There is warm sincerity in her praise of that 
lawyer, but her professions to the preacher have some- 
thing of the chill breath of a ghost. Should not wonder 
to learn that she has fallen in love with some one else. 
But you must remember that you have kept her waiting 
a long time ; you have been too much away from her : 

" Stars beyond a certain height, 
Give mortals neither heat nor light !" 

and the nature of most women demands an immediate 
personal object of affection ; you have been to Ruby too 
much like an abstract idea. I fear too, that your conduct 
has led her to believe that she is and must ever be too 
much subordinate to your ambition." 

Had I run the dear fellow through with a steel bayonet, 
the effect could have been but little more startling. His 
face became white as death, and spasms of pain shook 
his whole body. 

After a few moments, in a broken voicehe said, " Pray 
God that this may not be true — that I may not die — 
murdered by the angel of my life !" 



LOVE, AND RUBY ROLLINS. 105 

He wrote at once announcing that she might expect 
him at her home any day after the next fortnight. 
The next week brought the following response : 

Dear, dear Berty : — Yes, and if you will come immediately 
I am sure you will never regret it. Ever since your surprising 
note came, my heart has been singing day and night — 

" He is coming ? He is coming ! 
I thank God for this great joy." 

I want to see you more than any one else in all the wide 
world. My noble and loved One, I have had. Oh ! such a heavy 
aching heart ; and thought a thousand times, if I could only go 
to you, tell you all, then 1 mijiht be happy again. Come ! for 
once let me take the place of first importance, and come right 
away ; and then if possible we will arrange for the future. 

Lovingly your own 

Ruby Eot,lins. 

He did go, and returned from a week's visit at her 
home, joyful in spirit and full of hope. 

At that very time Ruby was engaged to marry another 
man, and the already appointed day of wedding was 
drawing near I 

But while he was there she kept it all concealed from 
Berty, and let him depart ignorant of her infidelity. She 
gravely discussed with him plans for the future, and con- 
sented to marry him in the coming autumn. Not a word 
did she lisp of her other engagement. 

Once she did ask in a tone of raillery, " suppose you 
should come back in the summer, and find that I had 
learned to love another, and I should ask you after all 
to release me from the old vow ; Berty what would 
you do?" 



106 , LOVE, AND RUBY ROLLINS. 

He quickly replied, " Surely such a supposition is 
treason to your heart. But I can only say, in that event, 
though it killed me I would willingly give you up. I 
love you enough to desire above all things your own 
lasting happiness." 

She quickly advanced, put her arms about his neck, 
drew down his head and kissed him upon the brow, 
and then retreated saying with much emotion: '' What 
a strange, noble young man you are ; any woman 
might well be proud of your love !" 

The truth is, her heart rebelled against giving him up ; 
and her better nature protested against the second en- 
gagement, which she had made probably from some 
whimsical fancy, rendered potent only by mistaken 
worldly consideration and selfish vanity. 

She was too happy now, her heart too hungry for his 
presence, and her will too weak to prevent her dallying, 
and playing with the Gothic consolation, that the ap- 
pointed wedding was still several months off, the world 
knew nothing of it ; and beside, after all, 

*' There's many a slip 
' Twixt the cup and the lip 1" 



CHAPTER IX. 



PREACHING JESUS. 



One of Berty's first sermons to the Church in Dubuque, Iowa 

[As reported.] 

" Then Phillip opened his mouthy and began at the same 
scripture, and preached unto him Jesus." Acts viii : 35. 

There is a prevalent, but erroneous opinion in the 
world that no man should preach before there has been 
some divine attestation of his mission and ability ; or as 
is commonly said, before he has *' been called.''^ 

And I would not be understood to say that there is no 
call to this sacred ministry. There is, but it is not a 
special and miraculous call. In its nature it is identified 
with the call to repentance, to obedience, to life, to 
Christ. When Jesus, immediately before his ascension, 
said to the band of disciples standing around him, " Go 
into all the world and preach the Gospel to every crea- 
ture," he certainly meant for them all to proclaim the 
facts of his life ; the words of his lips ; his death and 
resurrection, to all men. It was a commission called 
forth by the very essential n.iture and immediate needs 

(107) 



108 PREACHING JESUS. 

of his holy religion. It was the same as to say, *'You 
have been with me; you have heard and known me ; you 
have learned something of the Father's glorious design. 
I go away now, but do you go and tell all men both 
what you have seen and heard, that they too may believe^ 
and hope, and live. As eye witnesses, I make you in a 
peculiar sense ambassadors from the Lord of heaven and 
earth." But when Christianity was now forcing itself like 
a wedge into the hearts of men, when it was sweeping on 
and gathering strength in its course, when its mighty and 
beneficent influences were seen in the lives of men ; then 
Christ gave through John the great general commission : 

" Let him that heareth, say. Come !'' That is, all you 
who have received the precious words from my disciples, 
I commission you also to bear testimony for me ; lose no 
time, haste to declare abroad the good news from God : 
The great and all important thing is to have every poor 
sinner hear the glad invitation." 

By this every follower of Christ, every man, woman 
and child is, in a certain sense, called to the ministry, 
is duly authorized to preach. I am engaged in preach- 
ing, and of course it is supposed by many that I have 
been called. 

Some good Methodist sisters, (sisters mine since they 
loved and followed my Lord,) once told me that they 
thought I had undoubtedly been called, but had found 
my way into the wrong place. Well, I have been called, 
and when asked if such is my conviction, I always 
answer with emphasis, Yes ! 

I received my first call to the ministry, when as a 
lonely-hearted boy, I joyously understood that Christ 
included me too in his kind invitation, "Come to me, 



PREACHING JESUS. 109 

all you laden and weary ones." I date my acceptance 
of that call at the time when I found in Christ my best 
ideal of life ; above all my only possible Savior from sin; 
when in the spirit of obedience I was ready to sing — 



Through floods and flames, if Jesus lead I'll follow 
where he goes." 



Thus and then I accepted God's call to preach ; and 
the more of beauty, grandeur and goodness, I find in the 
character of Christ ; the more I discover the marvelous 
adaption of his religion to the wants of man ; the more 
clearly I see the truth that in the Gospel is the only 
hope of this world — the more closely and passionately 
am I wedded to this high calling. 

You have already anticipated, that cherishing this 
view of the matter, I regard all those distinctions which 
men have made between the ministry, and so called 
laity, as irrational, unscriptural and the sheerest jargon 
of humbug. 

We are wrong, very wrong, when in our superstitious 
faith we cast upon the shoulders of him, who in the 
pulpit bears an important part in directing the moral 
and religious forces, a robe of greater holiness than that 
which should drape the humblest toiler in the vineyard 
of our God. There is a distinction only as there is a 
difference of ability and responsibility ; a distinction 
only as one man may possess five talents, another three 
and another one. When we pledged to Christ our fealty, 
then we felt that the exercise of all our faculties was his, 
that we in reality offered up ourselves with all our 



110 PREACHING JESUS. 

powers to him as a living sacrifice. That was certainly 
our understanding, and then there was no insincerity in 
our song — 

" Here God I give myself away 
' Tis all that I can do !" 

And if a few of us in some way discovered that we 
were blessed with the faculty of saying a few simple 
words in the pulpit to arouse the attention of men to 
Jesus, that talent we have laid out at interest until our 
Lord come. The rest of you have been, or should have 
been preaching also, according to your talent ; may be not 
with words, not in the language of lips, but in the far 
more eloquent speech of life and action. 

Words are not thoughts ; they are but the flexible 
material for making baskets ; the carriers of thought and 
truth ; and if you cannot use them, if you cannot weave 
them into sermons and speeches ; you can become bas- 
kets yourselves, you can be and do. You can give ex- 
pression to your thoughts, purposes, faith, hopes and 
fears in your deeds. By means of these mute tongues 
you can preach sermons bearing sweet testimony, tenderly 
touching the heart. 

Paul was a forcible speaker; indeed, considered merely 
by the world's standard for orators, it might be gravely 
doubted whether earth ever heard man more eloquent 
than he. He delivered many good sermons in the syna- 
gogues, a great many discourses to public audiences ; 
sermons that have been treasured for us and for future 
generations in the divine archives. But not one was so 
effectual as that thrilling one preached by giving his 



PREACHING JESUS. Ill 

whole life for the truth, which he proclaimed. In all the 
sermons to the multitudes that followed him, Christ gave 
no such expression of his love for fallen man as in his 
quiet merciful deeds all through life ; as in dying broken- 
hearted upon the cross. 

Never has there been a sermon on faith and trust in 
God, so powerful as that preached by Abraham standing 
on mount Moriah, holding a gleaming knife over the 
bare breast of his beloved son. 

The stars of heaven, calm and unchanging may speak 
to us of God's greatness and wisdom ; the flower nestling 
at the foot of the oak may teach us of glory ; and the 
birds living so blithely, and so careless of the morrow, 
may sing into our hearts lessons of trust in God; the 
displayed activities of the living may instruct us con- 
cerning man's possibilities ; the quiet marble like face of 
the dead may warn us of the weakness of flesh and un- 
certainty of life. The drooping cypress that seems to 
mourn over the stained, moss-covered, crumbling and 
long since neglected tomb, may whisper sad thoughts of 
the vanity of all mere earthly dreams of honor and im- 
mortality. 

By means of this same unutterable language you may 
every one preach Jesus. To do this is your highest, and 
should be your dearest duty ; it is the fulfilment of the 
pledge you made to the divine Father. If you can 
effectually preach in the pulpit, you are culpable if you 
do not. If there is one here in this house to-day who 
knows that he is able to make speeches for God, he is 
under solemn obligation to stand up among his fellow 
men and preach the word of life'. Hear you and believe, 
that nothing in the wide universe can relieve you of 



112 PREACHING JESUS. 

your responsibility. But you who have no faculty for 
speech-making, remember you must preach somehow, if 
not from the pulpit then from the pew, and from the 
fireside. You must "preach as you go," by being living 
illustrations of the doctrines of Christ, by making your 
conduct a continual rebuke to evil doers ; you must 
preach in public life by the uprightness and purity of 
your character. In prosperity you can bear testimony 
for Christ by wearing the robes of his humanity and 
meekness. In adversity, in the midst of deep and sore 
affliction you can preach Jesus by the cheering light of 
your unworldlike patience and hope. It is a powerful 
sermon among men when a Christian is seen walking 
through deepest gloom of grief, still having the victory 
of hope ; still drawing such plenary supplies of comfort 
from the promises of Christ that the very countenance is 
fairly lit up, as with a beautiful halo of peace. By the 
faithful performance of all your common duties in daily 
life you teach men Christ. When you give a loaf of bread 
to feed the hungry, or take of your clothes to cover the 
naked, the very remembrance of your deed endears you 
and Him in whose name you act, to poor aching hearts. 

Will you hear this truth of glorious yet awful import ! 
Professed follower of the Son of Man, you must, must 
preach ! You must preach wherever you are, and in all 
circumstances. You must preach from beside the empty 
bed, and the empty cradle, over the fresh made graves 
of your loved ones ; and such preaching as this will carry 
home to the heart the truth of Jesus, God and Heaven! 

In order to accomplish any good and do my duty, Dear 
man or woman ! I have to think, study, pray and some- 
times cry over my sermons ; and can you preach Jesus 



PREACHING JESUS. 113 

unless you too study, and pray ardently over your ser- 
mons, the actions of each day and every hour of life ? 

He is a poor foolish thing at least, who mounts the 
pulpit without having prayerfully pondered his message 
from God to dying men ; and he is if possible poorer still 
wlio thinks that he can really be a Christian, and drift 
safely on, without planning and studying and praying all 
the time, how best he may preach the blessed Savior to 
those around him. If you belicA^e that people are lost, 
you will wish to have them saved. If you believe that 
Jesus can save all who come unto him, you will be 
anxious to have all see and know the Lord. With such 
a soul-stirring faith, you will find a thousand ways and 
chances to preach, and God will put burning eloquence 
into your one-word sermon — Jesus I 

Now, I do not wish to depreciate the pulpit, nor do I 
desire to magnify the pew. I do not wish to lessen the 
responsibility of the pulpit ; but would have it recognized 
that heavy responsibilities rest upon us all. And how little 
do we realize this ! How much are we prone to relieve 
and soothe our conscience by (perhaps unwittingly), con- 
sidering the preacher our proxy in righteousness. It 
is on account of tbis strange delusion and bad habit that 
there is nothing more shocking to the fastidious taste of 
society than a clerical sinner. 

If a minister go astray — go as most men around us go — 
and as they are going every day without criticism, we all 
at once find our consciences very sensitive and wide 
awake. His sin is heralded far and near. The digniiied 
newspapers teem with the latest accounts of the " Rev's" 
iniquity. In large type they announce to horror-stricken 
readers, '^ Another wolf in sheep's clothing!" with all 



114 PREACHING JESUS. 

the usual and original remarks about the livery of heaven 
being used in the devil's service ; and the virtuous public 
having greedily devoured the last filthy detail, finds 
itself morally panic-stricken. It lifts its hands in holy 
deprecation and exclaims, "He did that, did he? well, 
well, and he a preacher too !" And the way that public 
opinion swells and blows is almost enough to convince 
one that everybody is a saint, except the preacher who is 
set down as a devil incarnate. 

I would make no apology for the " sacred profession," 
for preachers ; they need none ! They have been glorious 
toilers in work morally sublime, and to-day, without 
them, the vanguard of civilization would fall back a full 
thousand years; without them, darkness would settle 
down upon this land. Nor need we fear to have them 
held up strictly to the standard of truth and justice. 
Let justice punish and cover with shame the guilty. 
But let not justice be blinded and restricted by passion, 
sinful and evil-wishing prejudice, or foolish distinctions. 
Treat a preacher as you would a professedly Christian 
man, and the professedly Christian man as a preacher. 
Hold all to their solemn vows, and let none be recreant 
to their trust I 

I hope and pray that the time is coming when the 
nation's conscience will be Christianized; when public 
opinion will leap and gleam and glare, like lightning 
from the storm clouds, to reveal in all its mean, ugly and 
hateful nature every form of that sin which nailed Jesus 
to the tree ; and to reflect upon all men the beams of 
that holy life which is the light of the world. 



CHAPTER X, 



COLORADO. 

(Letters to the T,adoga Herald.) 

Denver, Col., February 18, 1873. 

Mr. EDiTOii : — Finding that it would be an arduous 
task to write all the letters I have promised to my 
friends, with your kind permission, I will occasionally 
occupy a little space in your excellent paper with a com- 
munication to all at once, with the hope 'that this ar- 
rangement will prove satisfactory to my friends, and 
somewhat interesting to your readers. 

Upon Wednesday, February 5th, we started on the 
morning train of the L., N. A. & C. Railway for this 
place. I discovered that this line has more genuine 
courtesy in the composition of its moving than its sta- 
tionary officials. This characteristic of every true gen- 
tleman, the conductor showed by passing me at half 
fare, although by the extreme generosity of our local 
figure-head I was denied a renewal of my ministerial pass. 

At 7 o'clock the next morning we arrived at St. Louis, 
having been thus safely transported by the old reliable 
Vandalia. 

From St. Louis, taking a train via the North Missouri 

R. R., we started for Kansas City. 

(115) 



116 COLORADO, 

The first event of any consequence was crossing the 
Missouri River, that ugliest and most treacherous of all 
rivers, with its swift tide of yellow liquid mud, ever 
shifting sands, concealed rocks and long lines of cotton- 
woods — it is forever doomed to be repulsive to both nav- 
igators and pleasure-seekers. Immediately after cross- 
ing this slur on nature's beauty, we arrived at St. 
Charles. This town is one of the oldest in the West, 
and was originally settled by the French. 

On we sped, passing through many fine towns and 
much fine country. To "write them all up " would be 
tedious for both writer and reader, so let it be enough to 
state that they are generally prospering. 

I put very little dependence in the exaggerated praise 
bestowed upon them by their inhabitants, of which, if 
one-half be true, the hopes of Heaven must be no induce- 
ment to christian life. " Heaven ! Why what is Heaven 
in comparison with the town of G., with its salt well, 
stone quarry and soap factory?" — seems to be the half 
concealed sentiment of every enthusiastic citizen. The 
country is generally fine for farming purposes, in many 
districts greatly resembling the blue grass counties of 
Kentucky. Dark fell upon us before we reached Kansas 
Cit}^, and so we went out to inspect it by gaslight. 
Finding the mud ankle deep in the streets and knee 
deep at the crossings, we retreated. I awoke the next 
morning among the hills of Kaw River with the hope 
of soon seeing the great American Desert with its scat- 
tered settlements and abundance of game. 

Our whole day's journey was through the finest of 
grazing country, and I wondered when we would see the 
desert. I began to think that it was a myth, but have 



COLORADO. 117 

since been told that the name Desert is justly applicable 
ta a strip of country about forty miles wide, through 
which we passed in the night. I have read that the 
scenery of plains was monotonous. I wonder how that 
any traveler with an appreciation of nature's beauty can 
think so. To me, with its grassy slopes and hills, its 
wide plains touching the sky in the long distance, with 
now and then a " dug-out," a few dirty specimens of 
American citizenship, or an aboriginal red skin, it was a 
constantly interesting scene, and I gazed until it grew 
dark in the twilight. The whole plain, from the mouth 
of Solomon River to Denver is covered with bones, bones 
of buffalo and cattle. It was suggested that many hu- 
man bones are scattered over its smooth surface. Bones 
of those who left homes and were lost ; who perished 
through famine, who were cruelly murdered by Indians, 
or who were frozen and slept covered with a shroud of 
the beautiful snow. Bones of bodies that were torn and 
eaten by wolves and coyotes ; bones left to bleach and 
glimmer on the limitless plain, where no pitying eye, or 
tender hand will ever come to lay them in a grave. 

Being somewhat of a hunter in taste, I eagerly watched 
for game. A few buffalo in the distance, some antelopes, 
large Texan hares, known as jack rabbits, coyotes, 
prairie dogs and deer rewarded my sight. Of these jack 
rabbits, I have to chronicle that they seem to share with 
the monkey his fun, and with the mule his meditation. 
It made me laugh to see them, and I always thought 
that they enjoyed it fully as much as I did, as they 
jumped off with awkward leaps, every leg looking like 
a combination of broken bones. 

I was disappointed by not seeing a large herd of 



118 COLORADO. 

buffalo. My ambition would not have been at all satis- 
fied with less than 25,000. In the night I heard the cry, 
buffalo ! buffalo ! and of course jumped for a look out, be- 
lieving that the goal of my desire was reached. And the 
fact is I would be believing it yet if the moon's soft 
light had not revealed white spots upon the beasts that 
should have been entirely black. Ah, that revelation 
suggested the idea that they might be cattle, and blasted 
my hopes. Suffering from an itching in the toe of my 
boot caused by malign feelings against the unmitigated 
wretch that raised the false alarm, ''I laid me in my 
little bed." Morning's light brought the sight of Pike's 
Peak and soon that of Denver City. But of this and 
other things, more anon. Yours truly, Berty. 



Denver, Col., February 26, 1875. 
Mr. Editor : — Here I am, seated in a comfortable 
room on a big chair with my feet as high as I can con- 
veniently get them, a la Americaine, looking out through 
my window on one of the most majestic of God's crea- 
tions, the Rocky Mountains. Yes, yonder they are, 
those black spots I used to see in my geography at school 
and wonder at so much, yonder their snowy crests some 
eight thousand feet above me. But I am in too much ot 
a hurry, as I had intended to devote this communication 
entirely to an account of Denver and its immediate sur- 
roundings, and to " write up " the mountains in my 
next. 



COLORADO. 119 

Denver City is situated on a gradual slope rising east- 
ward from the junction of a stream called Cherry creek 
with the Platte river. Beyond the Platte the country 
extends with a gentle rise to the base of the mountains, 
twelve miles distant. 

I supposed that in approaching the mountains the 
plains would be broken and hilly for many miles before 
reaching them, and that Denver, only a short distance 
from the mighty range, would be in the midst of bluffs 
and hills ; when in fact it is situated in the midst of the 
plains, that extend without break or hill, except where 
now and then its smooth surface is channeled by a little 
mountain stream, up even to the very sides of the 
mountains. There is no part of the city that does not 
afford a view of these great piles of rock. 

Long's Peak, distant seventy miles, just fills the vista 
of one of the principal streets. 

The famous Peak of Pike, sixteen thousand feet high, 
is eighty-four miles off, and yet it is so clear and distinct 
that one can almost see the gorges and chasms in its 
rugged sides. 

Then there are Spanish and Gray's Peaks, wearing 
their eternal hoods of snow, so far off that one must 
turn his eyes away from them to appreciate the distance. 
There they stand surrounded on every side by lesser 
companions, the especial pride of every Denverite, and I 
have never yet found one who is tired of watching them. 

Denver City has sixteen thousand inhabitants, five 
railroads, street cars, gas and water-works. When we 
consider that within twelve years it has been swept 
away by a cloud break or ''water spout," burnt up, and 
besieged even unto starvation by the Indians, we may 



120 COLORADO. 

well be astonished at its present prosperity. Its mar- 
kets are well supplied with every necessity and luxury. 
Its residences are of modern and various styles of archi- 
tecture. This latter fact may be accounted for by stat- 
ing that its inhabitants are from almost every nation. I 
have stood on the streets watching, and in one hour 
have seen a representation from more countries than a 
school boy could learn from his geography in a week, 
from Lo, the poor Indian, to John, the pig-tailed China- 
man. 

I can see no difference between Denver and any east- 
ern city of its size, except such as its romantic situation 
affords. Before coming I had chaotic ideas of escaped 
criminals, long-haired plainsmen, many revolvers, bowie 
knives, redskins, and vigilance committees. All bosh; 
every bit of it. If any one about Ladoga contemplate 
visiting the "far west," let them make all arrange- 
ments to bring their " steel pen suit," as they will find 
as many, and just as pretty ladies, handsome gents, 
splendid turnouts, and as much style as anywhere else. 
Prices are generally higher than in the east. Merchants 
say that it is on account of the heavy freight charges, 
and that much abused excuse is used to drive many a 
bargain very hard on the purchaser's purse. 

A man went into a shop here a few days ago to buy a 
needle. He was asked twenty-five cents for it. When 
disposed to grumble at the price he was told by the 
clerk, " ah, sir, our freight charges are very heavy, 
very." I don't know how it is with citizens and regular 
customers, but I know that a stranger is subject to im- 
position from every quarter. 



COLORADO. 121 

One thing I miss greatly ; trees. The plains so wide, 
and without a single bush, the mountains too far off to 
disclose their pine forests, never afford any relief to my 
eyes, aching for sight of the maple and walnut groves of 
home. The dirty green mountain cacti and the scrubby 
cotton-woods that luie the pavements, are painful in 
bringing to mind by their awkward semblance the ever- 
greens and lofty trees of Walnut Ridge. 

When one comes here, from an association with na- 
ture's mild and tempered beauties, his ideality at first, 
is almost shocked and pained by her more rugged yet 
grander features. There is nothing soft and enchanting 
in these interminable plains and lofty mountains. They 
awe and impress, rather than charm and please you. 

We shall go in our next letter, nearer these mountains 
and see if they lose any of their stern aspect on a nearer 
view. Yours truly, Berty. 



Denver, Col., March 8, 1873. 

Editor Herald: — I have thrown down my pen several 
times before commencing this letter, realizing the folly 
of attempting to write even a partial description of the 
Rocky Mountains, to give anything of an adequate idea 
of their grandeur. Even when no nearer them, than 
Denver, the various views they present quite bafiie my 
powers of pen-picturing. 

In the morning, when they catch the first light of day, 
when at noon their snowy tops flash and glisten in the 
sunshine ; or at evening bathed in gold, suggestive of the 



122 COLORADO. 

treasures buried in their rocky sides ; or when the 
fleecy clouds roll up against them, and spread out their 
white veil, half concealing their rugged beauty ; at all of 
these times their appearance is grand beyond descrip- 
tion. But when, in addition to this, one has crossed 
their summits, gone deep into their bosoms through 
shafts and tunnels, wandered among their forests, 
through wonderful canons and ravines, their parks and 
table-lands, then he feels like refusing to write and say- 
ing, come and see ! But for the benefit of those who 
cannot heed the injunction, I will try to write of some 
few things I saw, knowing that my description must 
be little more than a mere caricature; 

There are several canons near Denver, all presenting 
grand views, but the one most usually entered is the 
Clear Creek Canon, for the reason, that it is not inferior 
to the others, and because a narrow track railroad has 
been built through it for about twenty miles. The little 
coaches and engines of the narrow gauge, are really en- 
ticing. Traveling in them is not very inconvenient for 
ordinary persons, but from the fact that long-legged 
men are compelled to sit doubled up during the whole 
trip, they are unpopular with that class of individuals. 
I do not know where the idea of narrow gauge railroads 
originated ; it seems to me that there is an analogy exist- 
ing between them and the narrow gauge mules (jack rab- 
bits) that infest the country. 

With a toot ! toot ! from the whistle, and a ding ! ding ! 
from the little bell, very much reminding one of dinner 
time with its hot biscuits and cofi'ee, we are off. Up we 
go running between walls, sometimes twenty-two hun- 
dred feet high, under projecting rocks, through dark 



COLORADO. 123 

glens where the sun never shines. On and up we go, 
puffing, pulling, whistling, ringing, jerking, and with 
nearly as much bustle and confusion as the waters of the 
little brook by our side, that goes tumbling and foaming 
down, never doing anything after all — ^just like a great 
many people I know. 

When fully into the second range (there appear to be 
three ranges, first the foot hills or rather foot mountains. 
Just back of these mountains rising up about 10,000 feet, 
then the snow or main range) we see evidences of min- 
ing. The sides of the mountains are scarred, and pitted 
with prospect holes, and look like they had suffered 
from a severe spell of the small-pox. The beds of the 
streams have all been torn up in placer mining, or as we 
call it in Hoosier, gold washing. Every now and then 
we see a miner's camp. It must be confessed that the 
architectural beauty of these towns is not very striking. 
The 'Mug-outs" of Kansas become palatial residences 
in comparison with these shelterings made of brush, 
dirt, rock, or any thing handy ; and the more unsuited 
it is for the purpose, the more likely it is to be used. 
A cur dog, an old pair of boots, and a red shirt hanging 
at half-mast, bespeak something of their domestic life. 

We ended our railroad journey at Central City, having 
climbed up an average grade of 175 feet to the mile. Ho ! 
you engineers of the (Matt) Anderson, Lebanon & St. 
Louis Railroad, what do you think of that ? What do you 
think of a grade two hundred and fifty feet to the mile ? 
Well, I have seen such, and it seemed to me to be a 
miracle that the engine ever pulled two coaches full of 
people up them without a single slip of the drivers. 

Central City is a place of ten thousand inhabitants, 



124 COLORADO. 

jammed down in a gulch with a stream and a street in the 
same place. It is overlooked by mountains ten thousand 
feet high ; bald and pitted mountains, covered all over with 
old windlasses and shaft houses. It has no other resource 
but the mines. Many beautiful farms lie near in the 
broader valleys, but nothing can be raised at that height 
above the sea (8,300 feet) except the hardiest vegetables 
for man, and unmatured wheat and barley for beast. 
Some of its buildings are of the finest description and 
would do credit to some eastern cities, Ladoga not ex- 
cepted. There are neat cottages and pretty churches 
perched up on the hillside among the rocks, about which 
we would go into ecstacies in the States. 

Mines ! mines ! is the cry. New mines are being dis- 
covered and old mines being developed every day; and 
one is requested soon upon his arrival by some seedy 
individual with his pocket full of " specimens" to advance 
him fifty dollars and he will give him a half interest in 
the " Blue Jay," " Jim Cracker," or some other mine of 
like appellation. 

Many of these mines have been sold for a trifling sum, 
which when developed proved to be worth millions of 
dollars, but a great majority of them do not possess 
" pay streaks." 

Of course I was anxious to be initiated into the wonders 
of gold digging and was accordingly conducted through 
a tunnel, twelve hundred feet long, into the "Bobtail 
Lode." They used to haul the quartz down the moun- 
tain, from the shafts of the mines in rawhide sacks, 
pulling them by the tail ; and they had one most capa- 
cious sack made of the hide of a bobtailed steer ; and 
thus originates the mining nomenclature. 



COLORADO. 125 

I saw great walls of rock, and the lights of the miners ; 
heard the click of hammers and the report of blasts, but 
that was about all. Where was the gold? Invisibly- 
held in this ungold like substance, quartz, I wondered 
how that it was ever discovered. The blacker and uglier 
the quartz, as a general thing, the richer it is. It is a 
miner's saying, " all that glitters is not gold." 

I wanted to climb up a high mountain, so picked out 
one of the highest and thought I would walk right up 
and see the country. I walked right up, for about two 
minutes and found my lungs collapsed. If any of you 
have a very great curiosity to know how I felt, get some 
trusty friend to administer several good blows on that 
part of your person known among professionals as the 
''bread basket." After resting time and again, with 
some considerable suffering from this respiratory fatigue, 
I reached the summit. Of the splendors of the snowy 
range, of the quiet valleys with their ranches and cattle, 
of the Mountain city below resting in the canon, and of 
the interminable plains stretching out until they vanished 
in a blue line, it would be useless to try to write. If 
Moses of old, from Pisgah's top, saw such a scene as this 
in viewing the land of Palestine, then, happy ending for 
a life so long and useful. 

Through the generosity of the miners I obtained many 
fine specimens and much valuable information. It can 
be truly said of these miners that a more obliging or 
clever class of men never lived. I do not now remember 
of having received a single gruff or uncivil answer to my 
many questions. The miner's character is rough, firm, yet 
tender and easily led. It will give no injury ; and woe be 
to him who in its association possesses not the same virtue. 



126 COLORADO. 

The people are healthy and attribute the perfect opera- 
tion of their digestive organs to ''thin air and alkali 
water." 

They all seem to be contented with home among the 
mountains and regard poor *' pilgrims" from the States 
with a pitying expression. There is an (in)significance 
belonging to the word ''States" that one learns only 
after remaining here a while. They are looked upon as 
reservoirs for all classes, fram which a few of the choice 
specimens, disgusted with their old surroundings have 
come to the blue plains and silver mountains of Colorado, 
Of the ''precious things of the hills and sands" I will 
write hereafter. Berty. 



CHAPTER XI. 



THE OPELET. 

"Cursed be the social wants that sin against the strength of 

youth ! 
Cursed be the social lies that warp us from the truth ! 
Cursed be the sickly forms that err from honest Nature's 

rule ! " — Tennyson. 

Before you pronounce too harsh an opinion upon the 
indefensible conduct of Ruby Rollins, be reminded that in 
all this she was not an exceptional novelty. She was but 
one out of many. 

All over our country there is a wicked and reckless 
social custom, which when stripped of polite euphemism, 
we can fitly characterize only as — harlotry of hearts. 
Girls and young women grow up cherishing unrebuked 
the notion that what is called flirting, is for them a per- 
fectly natural and innocent amusement. Hence it is not 
difficult to find in any community, some popular belle, 
who counts her worshipful followers by the half dozen ; 
and who glories in having her fingers covered with gold 
rings, each one betokening a diflerent marriage engage- 
ment. Parents and friends laughingly tease, and compli- 
ment the young sphynx upon her consummate tact in de- 
luding her suitors, each one of whom is made to believe 

that he is certainly the favored one. 

(127) 



128 THE. OPELET. 

True, these gallants are often as trivial, conscienceless, 
and invulnerable in heart as she ; but occasionally there 
is one of liner, truer nature, doomed by her sinful decep- 
tion to receive a blow from whose hurt he may never 
recover. 

Let the truth be thoroughly considered, that a pure 
Christian girl can no more be a fashionable flirt, than 
the adulteress can at the same time be a Christian. 

It is known to Botanists, that, down among the wonders 
of the sea, there is a curious and exquisite plant of 
anomolous nature called the Opelet. 

It looks like an immense German aster in bloom. 

Imagine a very large double aster, with ever so many 
long petals of light green, glossy as satin, and each one 
delicately tij^ped with rose color. These lovely petals 
do not lie quietly in their places like those of the garden 
aster ; but wave about in the water, while the opelet 
generally clings to a mossy rock. And how innocent, 
and lovely it looks on its rocky bed ! 

Who could ever suspect that it would eat anything 
grosser than distilled water and sunlight? But those 
beautiful waving arms as we might call them, have 
another use besides looking pretty. They have to pro- 
vide food for a large open mouth which is hidden deep 
down under them, and so well concealed that one can 
scarcely find it. 

Well do they perform their duty ; for the instant a 
foolish little fish, attracted by beauty, touches one of 
those rosy tips, he is struck with poison as fatal to him 
as lightning. He immediately becomes numb, and in a 
moment stops struggling, when the other beautiful arms 
wrap themselves around him, and he is drawn down into 



THE OPELET. 129 

the greedy mouth, and is seen no more. Then these 
lovely arms unfold and again gently wave in the water, 
looking as innocent and harmless as though they had 
never touched a fish ! 

In this strange plant of such wonderful grace and 
beauty, and yet of secret deadly poison, we have a near 
and striking aDalogue of a certain type of young women 
found in modern American society. Apparently they 
are modest, innocent, beautiful ; but at heart they are 
false and supremely selfish. They feign charming coy- 
ness, but do artfully use every possible device to entrap 
new victims, simply that their inordinate vanity, and 
their morbid appetite for thrilling semi-sensuous pleasure 
may be gratified. Since they regard so lightly love-mak- 
ing, and betrothal with its soft caressing privileges ; it 
is a natural sequence that they should sometimes fall ; 
and sometimes very hastily, and from most , inadequate 
motives take the final marriage vow. 

You must not infer from all this that Ruby Rollins 
was a common and heartless flirt, for she was no such 
ignoble thing. She was greatly influenced by social 
circumstances, but she was a pure, true-souled young 
woman. The unquestioned opinions and customs of 
society, led her into error, before she awoke to realize 
the wrong she had committed in taking the first seem- 
ingly innocent steps. They only made it possible for 
her to become involved in a very painful dilemma ; 
from which she now struggled to be free, and which 
caused her secretly to shed many bitter tears of regret. 

Ruby's inconsistency and trouble grew too, in part, out 
of inexperience. She had never gone man}'- miles from 
home, and knew little of the great busy world. She had 



130 THE OPELET. 

waited long, and lived upon hope deferred. When per- 
sistently courted by a strong, fine looking man ; self- 
reliant and ten years her senior ; a man who would not 
be repulsed in his suit by a dozen refusals ; and whose 
position and profession offered an immediate opportunity 
for a life of ease and exciting variety, the temptation 
was a strong one. On the other hand she had no con- 
ception whatever of the life to which Berty hoped to lead 
her. She had never seen, or heard of it, save as his own 
eloquent lips painted it. Saddle bags, and the journey 
on horseback to the regular monthly appointment, was 
about all she had ever seen of a preacher's life. Her 
childhood impressions had caused her frequently ' to 
wonder if preachers really ever had any pleasures like 
other people ; if they had any homes at all, and where 
they kept their never visible wives; 

As an intelligent woman she knew that her impres- 
sions must be absurd ; nevertheless at times they exer- 
cised a very discouraging influence upon her. And then 
again, to her mind, life with the business man in the 
grand rush and rattle of the world, appeared much more 
fascinating than what she supposed to be the invariably 
poor and tame lot of the preacher's wife. 

But, Berty 's last visit had thrown a different light 
upon the whole subject, and opened to her view a new 
world. He was no longer a mere dreaming boy, he was 
a finely developed young man, a man of many accom- 
plishments. His brow was already crowned with envia- 
ble distinction. He had been called to the charge of 
churches in several large cities. Whenever he mounted 
the pulpit, or the rostrum of the lecture hall, crowds 
greeted him, and reporters sat before him to take down 



THE OPELET. 131 

his words for the morning papers. Able editors were 
pleased to publish contributions from his versatile and 
brilliant pen. He had money, and the goodly pros- 
pect of handsome fortune. Now she need wait only 
long enough for him to decide upon a location and 
arrange his home. So Ruby determined to say nothing 
of her new engagement, to cling to her first love ; and 
when Berty stood holding one hand of hers, and one of 
her good mother, who loved him well, ready to go away, 
she said : "You need not doubt me, I am all yours now, 
and when you come back next fall, why then you may 
be, unless 3^ou change your mind, my mother's son!" 
Happy in heart he went away, and engaged more 
actively than ever before in the public ministry of the 
Gospel. 

About this time each day brought him some flattering 
call, or invitation from different and distant parts of the 
land. Frequently, churches in their impatience to know 
his answer would send telegrams asking immediate re- 
sponse. He consented to crowd the time with all the 
appointments possible; and often, after preaching at 
night, did he go straightway to the cars, and travel until 
the next evening, to be just in time to meet another 
engagement. 

When the pale-faced stranger arrived and walked up 
the aisle, sometimes at first sight, congregations would 
be greatly and evidently disappointed. He seemed so 
young, so gentle and powerless, they could not believe 
him to be the distinguished pulpit orator they had ex- 
pected to hear. I remember his first visit to Chicago. 
The morning papers had announced his coming, and 
thousands of hand bills had been scattered along the 



132 THE OPELET. 

streets to tell the people that he would preach that 
night in the Central Christian church. When we en- 
tered the pulpit a few minutes before time for service the 
house was crowded. He looked tired and listless. Soon 
one of the Elders whispered to me : " I feel dreadfully 
uneasy ; you had better preach to-night, and say to the 
people that the young Brother has come a long journey, 
and is too tired to speak before to-morrow evening. Ex- 
pectation is high and I am afraid he will not meet it !" 

" Never do you fear, said I, only wait and hear. Mind 
that you don't forget yourself, and shout to-night !" 

After the opening service Berty arose and read from 
Proverbs his text: ^^ Keep thy heart with all diligence; 
for out of it are the issues of life /' ' 

His salutation — '' Fathers, brothers, sisters and fellow 
citizens, the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, rest upon 
you all this night !" Sounded, or felt like a holy bene- 
diction from one who had divine authority to pronounce 
it ; and instantly did it fix the sympathetic attention of 
all. He spoke one hour, holding his audience as if spell- 
bound to the last. 

As an address to the young, it was by far the most -elo- 
quent and effective I have ever heard. No one of all 
present, and we every one were glad that it was ours to 
be there, can ever forget his picture of the ship laden 
with young men and women, in the awful storm, and 
sinking down in the sea ; or the marvelous apostrophe 
to the spirit of his sainted mother, which caused white 
haired men and women to weep. 

After the service, many of the people crowded up to 
shake his hand, and a number of them, who were not 
members of any church, said with feeling, God bless you ! 



THE OPELET. 133 

It was a significant fact, and a rare compliment that 
two regular reporters for the city papers sat before him 
that night, and after a few sentences, became so inter- 
ested in the speaker that they forgot that they came to 
take down his discourse. Their disappointment was 
only equaled by their surprise, to find that he had no 
manuscript, and not even a note. 

He was an off-hand speaker, and while he gave great 
care and prayerful study to preparation for the pulpit; 
yet he never wrote out more than a half dozen sermons 
in his life. His custom was to choose a subject, read all 
that he could find written on it, then meditate upon it 
for weeks or even months, and when he came to discuss 
it in public he knew exactly what he would say. 

His sermons were not only strong and impressive, so 
that they were food for the wise; but there was a sim- 
plicity which charmed the unlettered. It was touchingly 
beautiful to see how the children would fall in love with 
him and flock to hear him. I have seen them crowd 
around him and listen to his words when he was preach- 
ing, and become so absorbed in him and his preaching, 
that he could hardly get away from them when the ser- 
mon was over. They all called him, '' Brother Berty," 
and some would squeeze and kiss his hands. And how 
thoroughly he seemed to understand, and to sympathize 
with the dear little ones ! Indeed, to my mind, the 
most beautiful and Christ like trait of the character of 
Berty Stover was his child loving spirit. He never 
allowed an opportunity to pass, without an effort to 
draw the little children to his heart and arms. The 
boys lionized him, and the little girls crowned him king; 
and they both always hailed his visits with joyous shouts. 



134 THE OPELET. 

The last week he ever spent in my home ; in the after- 
noon, when one would naturally expect to find him anx- 
iously preparing, or resting for the night's discourse, he 
would be sitting on the floor, playing with the wee young 
ladies, and entertaining them with his ''sure enough 
stories." 

One day, when he stood upon the street corner, having 
his boots '' shined up " by a little frost-bitten looking 
gamin, he said, " Sa}^ Bub, is it not pretty sharp weather 
to have your horses out in the pasture ? " 

" \Miat der yer mean? I got no bosses ?" 

" Well, my little man are those the best shoes you 
have?" 

"Yes, them's the best, and them's all I got." 

'' Why don't you buy a pair to keep your trotters from 
freezing?" 

" 'Cause, when business is good, it takes all I can get 
to take care of the old woman and Bet (she's my little 
sister), and times is hard this winter ; this is the first 
job I've had to-day !" 

Berty then led the little fellow to a store, bought 
warm socks and shoes, and had them put on him, and 
said: ''Now Bub, I do this because my big elder 
brother wants me to be kind to poor little boys who are 
having a hard time in the world, and because I believe 
you are a good boy."^ 

Said the wondering child : " Who is that big brother 
of yourn?" 

" Christ, the Son of God; your Savior who died for you ! 
I am preaching every night in the church on the corner 
of Jefferson Park, and if you will come around there, I 
will tell you a great deal about the dear, good Savior " 



THE OPELET. 135 

The boy said he would come, and the next night kept 
his promise. He lingered behind the crowd to say 
'' Doctor, the old woman and Bet was awful proud about 
my shoes. If ye stay in Chicago I'm coming to yer 
meeting all the time ; and I'm done swore off ternight, I 
aint going to cuss any more, long as I live.'^ 

Berty took his hand and said, " I expect you Bub, to 
make a good man of yourself! You must tell the ''old 
woman " and little Bet that Jesus loves them too ; and if 
they will love him, and do what he says, he will take 
them up to a beautiful home in heaven when they die." 

He was born to be an aristocrat, was dignified and 
proud in disposition, delicate and refined in taste ; but 
he was not too lofty to go down to the condition of the 
most lowly child, to carry a ray of sunshine that might 
lead that child to a higher, better life. 



CHAPTER XII. 



GOLDEN, COLORADO. 



[ Weekly Transcript, Wednesday, September 17, 1873,] 

On Sunday last the dedication of the new Christian Church 
was witnessed by a large congregation, who were rejoiced at the 
additional sign of our true prosperity. The ceremonies were 
conducted with primitive simplicity, and the dedication sermon, 
though a trifle long, may well be placed among the finest pulpit 
efforts thus far delivered in Golden. It was by Rev. Berty 
Stover, whose services in behalf of this church will long be 
remembered for the success attending them. Ground was 
broken for this edifice on the 8th of May, 1873, and it was 
finished and ready for use on the 11th of this month. The 
building committee, which consisted of S. F. Huddleston, John 
G. Hendrickson, O. F. Barber and William A. W' ortham, de- 
serve credit for the energy displayed in pushing the work, and 
this, more especially, when it is borne in mind that much of the 
material was donated and had to be hauled from distant por- 
tions of the county. The church building is a modification of 
the Gothic form, thirty-two by fifty-six feet, and fifteen feet 
from floor to ceiling, with a seating capacity for four hundred 
persons. It cost $5,600, all of which has been paid, so that this 
handsome house of worship is free from financial incumbrance. 
The society that worships here now numbers some eighty souls, 
having received about forty new members since the beginning 
of 1873. And now that the work so recently begun under doubts 

and financial difficulties has been brought to a more than satis- 

(136) 



GOLDEN, COLORADO. 137 

factory end, the thanks of the society is tendered to those of 
our county citizens who contributed the lumber, lime and 
shingles, and also to the workmen of the town who contributed 
their mite in the shape of labor. The edifice is certainly the 
finest religious house in Golden, being well adapted to the pur- 
pose for which it has been set apart, and also in a mechanical 
sense, much nearer j)erfection in detail than it is usual to reach. 
Mr. S. F. Huddleston, who superintended the work, has earned 
for himself no small share of credit. 



Sermon on the Occasion of the Formal Dedication 
OF the House of Worship op the First Chris- 
tian Church of Colorado, at Golden 
City, September 14, 1873. 
(As Reported.) 

Worship — John iv : 23. 

I. 

After the Jews had passed their nomadic life in the 
wilderness, and had become a settled agricultural people 
in the land of Canaan, they existed under two forms of 
government. 

The first was called the reign of the Judges. These 
Judges were nothing more than the heroes of the people, 
who arose from time to time among them, assumed dic- 
tatorial power, and led them against the Canaanites who 
often harassed their borders. Each tribe during this 
period maintained its own internal form of government, 
and frequently made war against its neighbor. 

As they grew more powerful, and as their great re- 
sources began to be developed, we see in their history 



138 GOLDEN, COLORADO. 

the same that we see in the history of every nation, a 
disposition to centralize ] to avoid the confusion of many, 
and to secure only one government. So dissatisfied were 
they with their disunited and nnstahle state, that they 
cried out for a king. Under the rule of the kings, pros- 
perity alternated with adversity, and at the close of the 
reign of Solomon, we find them divided: Two tribes 
adhering to his son Rehoboam, and the remaining tribes 
in rebellion, and choosing for their king Jeroboam. 
For two hundred and fifty years the ten tribes passed 
successively through all the vicissitudes of national life ; 
at the end of which time they were carried into captivity 
by the Assyrian monarch. Thus as a distinct Jewish 
nation they passed .away, leaving no trace, and being to 
this day denominated " the ten lost Tribes of Israel." 
Their unfinished history, like some great broken shaft 
of marble remains as a monument of the consequences of 
ungodliness, whether it be the characteristic of an indi- 
vidual or a nation. 

The arm of Jehovah that in so short a time obliterated 
from the earth a great i)ortion of this race of people, is 
still in the world. In caring for the spiritual welfare of 
ourselves, our families and our neighbors ; let us not 
neglect to attend to the moral and spiritual interests of 
our people as a nation by the conscientious exercise of 
our prerogatives as American men and women — that 
God's wrath be not kindled against us also. 

After the disappearance of the ten tribes from the land 
of their possession there arose in their stead a mongrel 
race, which we know in history as the Samaritans. We 
have many reasons for believiDg that this people really 
carried an abundance of Jewish blood in their veins. 



GOLDEN, COLORADO. 139 

Although at times they were addicted to the practice 
of Idolatry ; still their adherence to the moral law of 
Moses, and to many of the Mosaic forms of worship, 
indicates a Jewish, as well as a heathen origin. Even at 
this day, although existing as a mere handful, one or 
two hundred oppressed and captive people, they cling 
to their city, and kneeling at the foot of Mount Gerizim 
still offer worship to their fathers' God. Stubborn in 
their adversity, refusing to mingle with surrounding 
people ; clinging with childish devotion to old localities 
and old associations, they show in their disposition the 
distinctive features of the Jewish character. At the time 
when Jesus was among men, this people formed no in- 
considerable part of the population of Palestine. They 
lived in the land of Samaria, between Judea and Galilee. 
From the time that the ten tribes had rebelled against 
the House of David, there had been no connection with 
Israel proper. Not only so, but there existed in the 
Jewish heart an intense hatred to the Samaritans, whom 
the Jews contemptuously called, "dogs." The disposi- 
tion to exalt one's own family and nation, at the expense 
of others was a strong feature of selfish man in the early 
ages of history. The Romans despised the ' ' Barbarian, ' ' 
and assumed that all wisdom, nobility and civilzation 
was comprehended by their own Empire The Greek 
being more intelligent and of more aesthetic culture, with 
a more pitying and dainty scorn looked down upon the 
heathen nations of earth. And so, in accordance with this 
common disposition, the Jews hugged to themselves the 
conceit that they were the especially and only blessed of 
the races. Hence they regarded all others with contempt. 
This feeling was intensified tenfold when the Samari- 



140 GOLDEN, COLORADO. 

tan was considered. Because the Samaritans of inter- 
mingled blood, claimed kindred with them, because they 
had introduced into their worship elements of idolatry ; 
and as the Jews thought, by this vile association of holy 
and unholy things, the Samaritans committed the most 
abominable sacrilege ; therefore the Jews abhorred their 
pretentions, and spurned their offers of friendship. One 
great question of dispute between the two people was 
as to the genuinely authorized place of worship, Jeru- 
salem, or Mount Gerizim — the mount of blessings, where 
Joshua had built his altar and offered sacrifices, imme- 
diately after entering the land of Canaan This enmity 
of the two races was hottest and most bitter at the time 
of Jesus. 

Although the worship of the Samaritans was Mosaic, 
and their temple ceremonies in accordance with the 
Law, yet the Jews called them dogs ; and in their jour- 
neys between Judea and Galilee refused to pass through 
Samaria, but crossed the Jordan, and passed along the 
eastern border, through the land of Gilead. 

Against this dark background of Jewish hate, we see, 
well defined, standing out all radiant with the glory of 
its virtues the lovely character of Jesus, the Christ. 

The Samaritans were always objects of his considerate 
care ; and in passing through their country, which he 
never avoided if it lay in his way, he was always, with a 
single exception, the recipient of honor and unfeigned 
friendship. His sinless character, and sweetness of dis- 
position disarmed all prejudice against him as a Jewish 
teacher. 

As the incarnation of the great principle of his relig- 
ion, charity ; as a living illustration of his own doctrines, 



GOLDEN, COLORADO. 141 

we see him raising himself above the miserable jeal- 
ousies of nations ; passing by hereditary hatreds and 
extending the hand of fellowship to all men. 

How beautifully does his life set forth the genius of 
his religion ! And how ashamed should Ave be, who with 
far less cause than the Jews know so little, and evince so 
little of the spirit of Christ ! 

It was upon one of his journeys through Samaria that 
the conversation which we have read, occurred between 
Jesus and the Samaritan woman. It was at midday ; 
weary with his journey, dusty and thirsty he sat down 
by the well of Jacob, while his disciples went to the 
city of Sychar to purchase provisions. He asked a 
drink of one of the women of the city, who had come to 
draw water. She is astonished. His kind tone and 
civility are in such striking contrast to the rude treat- 
ment she always received at Jewish hands. 

" How is it that thou being a Jew asketh drink of me, 
who am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no 
dealings with the Samaritans." 

While regarding the cool and refreshing water, which 
came up from the well of the rock, here in the arid 
desert, He is reminded to speak of the Water of Life. 

The woman misapprehends him, and thinks him but 
opening the controversy between the Jew and Samaritan. 
By relating her past and bitter history he convinces 
her at once that he is a prophet ; and she immediately 
proposes to find what he has to say from God of the long 
contested case between the two nations ; whether Geri- 
zim or Jerusalem was the place where men ought to 
worship. 

He answered, " woman believe me, the hour cometh 



142 GOLDEN, COLORADO. 

when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jeru- 
salem worship the father. Ye worship ye know not 
what ; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the 
Jews. Biit the hour cometh and now is, when the true 
worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in 
truth. For the Father seeketh such to worship him. 
For God is spirit, and they that worship Him must wor- 
ship him in spirit and in truth." 

That is to say, the time has come when there shall be 
nothing exclusive about worship ; not at Jerusalem alone 
nor Gerizim only, but in all places above and beneath 
the blue sky wherever there are spirits to love and to 
pray — there shall Jehovah be acceptably worshipped. 

Now that the old dispensations of Judaism were pass- 
ing away ; that the ceremonies of the Law as practiced 
by both Jews and Samaritans would be of no avail, he 
strives to raise her conception of the worship of God 
above mere time, place and form, robbing it of its sen- 
suality, and making it a pure animation of the heart, of 
the spirit spiritual. This spiritual worship of Christ's* 
religion is that which distinguishes it, and lifts it above 
every other on earth. Worship is the principal thing 
in all religion. It is the feeling, groping after the Father 
of spirits ; the approach we make in fear and love to the 
Supreme Power of Powers, and is but the natural impulse 
of the soul. Just as naturally as the vine climbs from out 
the dark, and tries to live in the sun ; so humanity tries 
to climb up and get back to its native light — the glory of 
God. And when we understand that Christ came as the 
Light of the world, and instituted the true and spiritual 
religion ; it is not hard to believe that this transcendent 
religion must endure, while all other so-called religions 



143 

must fade away, like sickly swamp lights before the 
morning sun. This spiritual worship transcends that 
worship which we may justly style material and sens- 
uous, as the spirit the flesh, the eternal, the temporal. 

What is the problem of human destiny and in whose 
life do we find the true solution ! In the history of what 
nation or individual ? In the life of Alexander, Socrates, 
Plato, or Caesar? No ! no, they lived, struggled grandly 
and died ; but they left no thrilling truth incarnated in 
history to move the world onward and upward. Do we 
find it in the history of the great Roman Empire ? No ! 
its policy was its own destruction, and had nothing to 
elevate and save the race. In the history of Greece? 
Her ideals were beautiful, and in her works she certainly 
realized somewhat of the beauty of her ideals ; but all her 
poems and statues, things of curious and exquisite 
beauty, were powerless to hush sorrow, make despair 
give place to hope, or lessen the reign of death-bringing 
sin. Where then the answer to the eager questionings 
universal of the soul ; and where the interpretation of 
our mysterious existence ? 

We find all in the isolated life — unlike all others— in 
the perfect life of Christ. In the life of Him who was 
Lord over time and the material, who was superior to 
circumstance ; and who by the power of his soul van- 
quished all evil that strikes at the life and glory of man. 
Who refused to raise his hand against his persecutors, 
and who bade his indignant follower to sheathe his 
sword. Who by sublime conquest demonstrated that 
spirit is above flesh, and good mightier far than evil. 
Who spoke as man never spake, and started a thought, 
a truth, a hope, a life joyously crying aloud in the 



144 GOLDEN, COLORADO. 

wilderness, that should awaken and bless the world. 
His very name to-day carries a power itself mightier 
than the flag of any nation ; and the influence of the 
spirit of his life is now more powerful among men than 
it ever was before. We see it shining through every sign 
of human progress, and inspiring the noblest energies of 
man, embodied in a thousand-thousand beneficent works. 
Sometimes in watching the ant hills, scattered over the 
plains, we see the little creatures hurrying ever to and fro, 
carrying in and going out in their search ; digging their 
storehouses and piling up the mounds. They are ful- 
filling their mission, and being creatures of mere instinct, 
each generation perfectly accomplishes the purpose of 
the Creator. 

So we see men hurrying across the earth in groups, 
pressing the bounds of civilization up into the desolate 
mountains and over the sterile plains. They launch the 
white-winged ships, freighted with commerce for distant 
lands. They boldly push out in the very face of death to 
explore unknown regions. For gold they dig into the 
rocky sides of the mountains; they tear open the bosom 
of earth for its iron, which they forge into monster 
engines that turn the wheels of shops and factories, and 
hurry us over the iron tracks with the speed of the wind. 
They tie the continents together with slender threads 
of wire, over which the enslaved lightening is made 
to fly with knowledge. And why is all this? Men 
are working out their destiny, and in very many re- 
spects are — it is true unknowingly — carrying out the 
great principles of the life of Christ. The end will be a 
demonstration of the fact that mind is above matter- 
the spirit Infinitely more important than the body. Thus 



GOLDEN, COLORADO. 145 

will be fulfilled the prophetic injunction of the Creator: 
''Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and 
subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, 
and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing 
the that moveth upon earth." Man was intended to be 
a kingly creature, and such he will 3^et be on the earth. 
In performing his work he is different from the ants in 
being a creature of experience instead of instinct, there- 
fore capable of endless progress. 

So our mission is a cumulative work of generations, that 
must continue through the cours ' ef ages until it shall 
be completed. We are making rapid progress now. We 
have been hurrying on for the past few years at an un- 
precedented rate. So fast indeed, that some people are 
becoming alarmed; they are crying out that the world is 
running mad ; that motives of selfishness are gaining 
strength, and that a spirit of recklessness rules the age. 
But we are safe ; these things are but the secondary 
effects in the great struggle to advance, and will be un- 
avoidable so long as there is sin in the world. 

Fiery trial is the element from which true life is born, 
and we are always in the midst of dangers. From the 
cradle to the grave, our path must often lead along the 
verge of precipices ; and the powers of darkness seem at 
times bound to hurl us over. This is surely for our dis- 
cipline, and betokens designed development. The crack- 
ling zig-zag lightning may, as a thunder bolt, strike down 
a few; ever and anon the remorseless ocean may lift up 
its huge hands and clutch for destruction a passing ship ; 
but would you, could you forever quiet these elements ? 

Is mere security the greatest good? Must the fiery 

blast be quenched in a stagnant ocean ! There are 
10 



146 GOLDEN, COLORADO. 

powers in the soul of man, of fearful capabilities it is 
true, but of glorious susceptibilities and they must awaken 
and unfold themselves. Let us hail and encourage every 
sign of their development with hopeful faith in human 
nature as God's creation, and with firm trust in that 
Providence which overrules all things for good. As 
proof that we have made rapid progress in the science of 
true development, as it is embodied in the statement that 
mind is mightier than matter, regard for a moment the 
forces that men most esteem at this day. 

Brute force was the iron rod that once and long ruled 
the world, and its history is one of war and blood. But 
now wars are being looked upon with horror, and are for 
the most part deemed brutal and disgraceful ; and the 
nation that oftenest resorts to brute force in settlement of 
its disputes we count lowest in the scale. 

The Geneva Arbitration by which the Alabama claims 
were so amicably settled will stand in history as a mark 
of the progress of our age. And I pray God that the time 
mav soon be at hand when War himself shall be dead; 
when we shall carry out the grim and bloody monster 
upon his own rusty shield and bury him in the most 
desolate place in all the earth ; when the flowers of 
peace shall bloom over the battle field, and little children 
shall not be afraid to wander there to gather them. 

In marching thus up and on to a higher plane of human 
action, the nations are silently moved by the great 
principles of Christ's holy religion; and are coming to 
recognize how superior in might and glory is mind to 
matter, spirit to flesh. Because the reasoning of Maho- 
metanism. Pantheism, Atheism, and modern Darwinism 
all ignore this truth in their speculations and theories of 



GOLDEN, COLORADO, 147 

life, we reject them as fundamentally false and unphilo- 
sophical. 

Like the Indians of America who for centuries in- 
habited this beautiful country without at all developing 
its great resources, and were considered by the God of 
Providence unworthy of its possession ; so these false 
and unfruitful systems and the nations that hold to them, 
will be crowded back from' the fields of labor, to give 
place to worthier people. 

When Moses had brought the Children of Israel out of 
Egypt, and they at last reached the southern border of 
the land of Canaan ; before entering the promised land he 
first sent over spies to inspect the country. They returned 
with great branches clustered with purple grapes, but 
reported the Canaanites ''a people fierce and strong. '^ 
The hearts of the slavish, cowardly people quaked with 
fear; and they cried to be led back to Egypt. God did 
lead them back, not to Egypt, but into the wilderness of 
the Red Sea ; and there they remained until a new 
generation had sprung up to succeed the bondsmen of 
Egypt. 

Let us thank God to-day, that our nation does not want 
to be led back, as did many nations of the past, and as do 
some benighted people of the present. And let us thank 
God that men everywhere are growing weary of being 
led back to the dark ages to find in the idolatrous shrines 
of superstition, and in the dogmas of zealous ignorance, 
the place and theory of true worship. Men have about 
ceased groping into the night of yesterday to find light, 
are climbing the mountain tops, and gazing with rapt 
visicn upon the rising sun of the eternal morrow, the sun 
which hath healing in his wings. ^ :)^ ^ ^ 



148 GOLDEN, COLORADO. 

* * * * It is easy to see that this handsome 
building has been erected for a house of worship ; and 
we are to dedicate it to that worship which is in spirit 
and in truth. 

But what meaneth this absence of all pompous cere- 
mony, why the service so severely simple ! My eye rests 
upon no images or pictures of saints ; I see no holy relic, 
no uplifted cross; I hear no prayers and incantations in 
words of a dead language ; I smell no smoke of sacrifice 
or of burning candles, and see no gorgeous vestments of 
fine linen and silks prepared for the priest. However, in 
the absence of these things, there is something that 
speaks in language that cannot be mistaken, of that 
simple and sublime worship of which Jesus spake at the 
well, the worship alone worthy of man, and fit for the 
Great God of Heaven and Earth. 



II. 



We recognize the wisdom of Christ in declaring that 
spiritual worship is to be the acceptable worship, because 
as he reveals, God is spirit. 

His biief discourse upon worship — that "the true 
worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in 
truth : for the Father seeketh such to worship him" — 
seems to me the profoundest and most exhaustive state- 
ment of truth ever presented to the mind of man. The 
church is just beginning to understand its meaning. If 
we worship the one True and Living God, the Great 
Spirit, what homage can we bring other than pure 
spiritual homage of our higher nature; and how can we 



GOLDEN, COLORADO o 149 

dare approach Him at all in worship unless each step 
and act be in strict accordance with the command and 
permission of His revealed truth. 

By wisdom we could not find out God, and by wisdom 
we may not presume to say or think what may be accept- 
able in worship. To be sincere is not enough; our 
worship must be in or according to the truth ; and 
God alone through his Son can tell us what is the truth. 
We do not, as the Jews, recognize any priesthood, nor 
do we see any cloud. We ha\e not, as the idolators, 
gods to be seen. Neither do we recognize any hierarchy 
standing between us and our God ; but by the new and 
living way we crowd into the Father's presence, hold 
sweet communion with him, and tell him our wants and 
troubles. 

Having within us a consciousness that somehow we 
were not intended for death ; knowing that this throbbing 
heart soon must stop and yet whispering when we note 
its pulsations, '' Hark, I feel within me the beat of the 
heart of hearts. I hear the fluttering of a life which 
was not born to die." We could not be satisfied with a 
worship that comprehended nothing more lasting than 
sensual ceremonies. We feel that there must be help 
and food and preparation for the spirit ; gradual devel- 
opment of those high faculties of man which are destined 
to contemplate the mysteries of God's love and power 
throughout eternity. We believe true worship to be 
perfectly and divinely adapted to this great end; and 
cannot endure the idea of degrading it, by foisting into 
it human opinions, or mocking it with mechanical cere- 
mony, empty forms and impious pomp. 

Poor man you cannot make a grain of sand, a flower 



150 GOLDEN, COLORADO. 

or a bug ; and how can you help God in his own work of 
giving a religion, and a form of worship fit for the im- 
mortal spirit, and able to save the world ! ! What 
Councils and Popes and Bishops have attempted in this 
direction, in the not distant future, will be looked upon 
as most presumptuous folly. Were I to lift a finger to 
alter or amend the work that Jesus finished, my soul 
alarmed would hear a voice calling out of heaven, and 
saying : "Be still, and know, that I am Grod !" 



III. 



The character of our worship is dependent upon the 
degree of our knowledge of God, upon the education and 
enlargement of our higher faculties. In speaking of 
higher faculties, I do not wish to be understood to inti- 
mate some supernatural powers different from those 
which we use in this life, but of those which are not 
dependent upon flesh, and that do not find their food in 
the material stores of time and sense, that live not by 
bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of 
the mouth of God. 

Christ said to the woman: ''We worship what we 
know." God is spirit, and as such must reveal Himself, 
and as revealed, Him the true worshipper must worship. 
To worship a creation, or ideal conception of Deity 
formed by the human mind, or to worship the true God, 
in the way invented by human wisdom, is only to be 
guilty of a refined s})ecies of idolatry. Do we then seek 
to worship in spirit and in truth, so as to be acceptable 
to God, and so as to realize the life and joy and glory 



GOLDEN, COLOEADO. 151 

designed to be conveyed to the spirit made in the image 
of God ; then we must see tremendous imi)ortance in 
the Apostle's injunction " Grow in grace and in the 
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ !" 

The great God who is love; whom Jesus revealed, 
and who stands before the world to-day seeking its 
homage is Spirit, whom to know is to address with spir- 
itual worship. And it was not until He was fully re- 
vealed in Christ the Son that He demanded this higher 
spiritual worship. In the fact that our worship is spiri- 
tual in the ratio that we have knowledge of the Father 
of spirits, we find also reason why men now offer such 
meagre and unsatisfactory worship before the throne. 
It is because they have meagre knowledge, and have not 
by meditation, contemplation and communion educated, 
what we may term the faculty of worship. They need 
every where familiarity with the word, a heart and soul 
understanding of the living oracles. 

Do you not see men every day who are low in their 
foreheads, whose preponderance of brain is in the back 
of the head ? Men who curse and swagger in coarsest 
style; whose whole being seems to grovel in mere bes- 
tiality? Would it do any good to reason with them of 
higher life, or to appeal to their imbruted conscience in 
behalf of the eternally good ! \Vhy, no, their better nature 
is deformed and dormant, and has long since ceased to 
be susceptible to moral influences. The gross animal is 
alive and strong ; but the spirit is dead. The majesty 
of the law avails not to govern and restrain them. They 
must be controlled by brute force ; for them we make 
chains and prisons and dungeons. What is needed most 
of all, is that the spiritual nature of men be educated; 



152 GOLDEN, COLORADO. 

that the true inner deathless man be lifted up, and be 
made master, prince over the body. The one all power- 
ful institution for the accomplishment of this great pur- 
pose is Divine Worship. :^ ^ ^ Our first 
crude ideas of God are derived from our parents and 
early teachers. They are bounded by the narrow circle 
of our experiences ; and yet it is almost impossible ever 
to escape from their impression. True our views become 
enlarged and changed, but with all our growth they 
remain essentially the same. You looji upon a blade of 
green, pushing up from the mother seed ; in a few years 
it has grown to be a noble tree. But the plant is not 
different ; it is simply enlarged.. 

What dignity and importance must belong to the 
circle of home influences, and to childhood's school. 
Here is the awakening of the spiritual nature, and 
the beginning of our growth in the knowledge of God, and 
alas ! with the masses of mankind it is about the end also. 
Few change the religious or irreligious ideas inherited 
from their mothers. Hence the poor stunted growth of 
men, bearing at best such sour and worthless fruit. 

Say to the average man of society: "What sir, is 
your conception and knowledge of God ; how extended ; 
how profound ?" Startled and confused he would drag 
out the old impression of childhood, and perhaps repeat 
some saying from his mother's catechism. Thought of 
God is no part of his mental being, but an old curious 
idea entombed in his unstirred memory. His God has 
not even the dignity of an idol ; and appears as power- 
less and pitiful a thing, as would in his arms the armless, 
unclothed doll his mother made for him when a little 
child. It is as powerless to inspire to higher life as the 



GOLDEN, COLORADO. 153 

dumb stone figures of the Idolaters. How much spiritual 
worship will ever flow from the soul of such a man as 
that; what lofty inspiration will move him to lead a 
pure and noble life ? 

No wonder that the multitudes of such people are 
content with prayer books, hollow ceremony, and images 
of saints; and that when in the house of prayer once a 
week, they cannot rise above the earthy, and even for a 
little while get rid of worldly care and business. 

What we want is ever growing knowledge of God, 
and to have this we must search, and study, ponder and 
pray over the great volume of Truth, the precious Bible. 
We must keep the thought of God day and night ever 
before us. We must try to see and hear Him every- 
where and in everything. Above all things we must 
endeavor to know Christ the Lord ; to see, to understand 
and love Him as gloriously revealed in the New Testa- 
ment Scriptures. Through such efforts our worship will 
become each week and month and year ever truer, 
deeper, and purer, and that worship will be our life, and 
that life joyous and exalted. 

The laborers had been drilling and blasting and hew- 
ing in the Mount Cenis tunnel for years. One day the 
steady work was still going on, the same monotonous 
clink, clink, boom, boom; but hark what was that? 
Why, the sound of the hammers and drills of the work- 
men slowly cutting their way and coming from the other 
side of the mountain. They are nearing each other and 
the work of years will soon be completed mid shouts of 
joy. So dear old workmen for Christ, fathers and mothers 
in our Israel, for long years you have been toiling on, 
nearing your God ; becoming more spiritual in .worship ; 



154 GOLDEN, COLORADO. 

more loving to Christ and to men ; and God has been 
nearing you. Some day ere long his own hand will cleave 
the thin wall that separates you from his presence, and 
then forever more, you shall walk in light, in the sinless 
world. * * * :4= 

For this true worship of Almighty God, we have built 
this house. It was begun in April last. In the falling 
snow we measured off the ground. We asked God to 
bless us then ; and the labor and pain are now finding 
their reward. To many friends here in Golden who lent 
us generous aid, we wish publicly to extend hearty 
thanks. And he who from a far off land sent his muni- 
ficent gift to complete the building will find his reward. 

Men are in the habit of erecting splendid houses for 
political and educational purposes. Great as are these 
purposes, after all they are not for man's very highest 
interest. The humble spire that points heavenward, 
raised over the place where men are wont to worship God 
in spirit and truth, will speak more for man's loftier 
interests than shining tower or minaret of King's palaces, 
more than all the stately columns of Greece or Rome or 
the pyramids of Egypt. 

It was a solemn occasion when King Solomon dedi- 
cated the Temple to the Most High God. All the elders 
and people were assembled. The ark was borne in 
sacred order from Mt. Zion. Sacrifices without number 
were offered before it. The priests conveyed the oracle 
and placed it under the wings of the cherubim. Bursts 
of music filled the air, and the choristers rolled their notes 
of praise over Jerusalem. In the midst of solemnities, 
the cloud of glory, the sublime Shekinah of Jehovah 
took possession of the Temple. 



GOLDEN, COLORADO. 155 

We have here to-day a far different service from that. 
In our age and under the Christian dispensation of spiri- 
tual worship, we dedicate this house of prayer and praise 
with no glittering pomp and no costly ceremony. We 
reverently bear in the ark of truth, the Gospel of our 
Lord, the World's Redeemer ; the holy and eternal prin- 
ciple of right and love, clad in the clean simple vest- 
ments of humility, and place it under the protecting 
wings of God himself. 

With contrite and broken spirits we pray and sing 
unto Him, looking for no luminous cloud out of heaven, 
but for the sweet benediction of the peace of God, which 
passeth all human understanding. Remembering as 
Milton says, that 

** God attributes to place 
No sanctity, if none be thither brought 
By men who there frequent." 

Nor do we pretend by this opening service in any way 
to bring "peculiar mysterious holiness" to the place, 
which shall render it holy. We cannot invest this pile 
of bricks and mortar with any sacredness, and would 
only have a day of rejoicing in the fruit of our labor, as 
we begin here that public worship, for which it was built. 
We come together, as it were on the commencement 
day of a new era, and new work, for which our oppor- 
tunities have been widened ; and in thankful joy we 
would renew our vows to God, and gird up our loins for 
the race and toils that are yet to come. Perhaps long 
years from now when old associations connected with 
saints departed, when many sweet recollections shall 
climb about and into the history of this house, like green 



156 GOLDEN, COLORADO. 

ivy over old church walls, then, it may be considered a 
holy place. They who are children now, may be very 
old then, and may often come here as to a sweet restfal 
place, and may regard the house builded by their fathers 
as the gateway of heaven. So as we cast our thoughts 
forward, marking the influence of this house of worship, 
upon the community, probably for hundreds yet unborn, 
we have additional cause for gladness and praise. But 
dear brethren, this house will at last moulder and crum- 
ble away, and so, soon shall these poor clayey temples of 
ours. 

God has set a boundary to the ocean. He stretched 
out the pebbled beach, and said to the waters : " Hitherto, 
and no further. Here shall thy proud waves be stayed !" 
And so, he has bounded our life ; and we are all nearing 
the great Hitherto ! The Lord grant that we may work 
unto the end, and that as when the mighty sea wave 
pauses in its course, then dashes fearlessly upon the 
frowning rock ; so may end our life here. While the 
powerful waves seems to perish, the sun lowers its 
golden cords, and having separated the fine from the 
gross, draws upward only the purest, dewiest spray, 
to enter anew into forms and works more beautiful. 
Afterward we see it sweeping down the heavens as an 
angel of light, or trailing its golden robes upon the blue 
pavement of the sky — so, when we shall have reached 
the Hitherto of earthly life, and have been dashed against 
the rocks of death ; may the cords of his wondrous love 
draw our purified spirits away and up, to become a part 
of the great multitude in white, who shall worship Him 
evermore, in the glorious city and temple which hath 
foundations ; whose builder and maker is God I 



CHAPTER XIII. 



VIRTUS IN ARDUIS. 

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase !) 

Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace, 

And saw, within the moonlight of his room, 

Making it rich and lilce a lily in bloom, 

An angel writing in a book of gold. 

Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold; 

And to the presence in the room he said, 

" What writest thou?" The vision raised its head, 

And, with a look made all of sweet accord, 

Answered, " The names of those who love the Lord." 

"And is mine one ?" asked Abou. "Nay, not so," 

Eeplied the angel. Abou spoke more low. 

But cheerily still ; and said, " I pray thee, then, 

Write me as one that loved his fellow-men." 

The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night 

It came again, with a great wakening light. 

And showed the names whom love of God had blest ; 

And, lo ! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest. 

— Leigh Hunt. 

" Fixed in astonishment, he gazed upon her, 
Like one just blasted by a stroke from heaven:" — Addison. 

In the last of the winter of 1875, after leaving Chicago, 
Berty went to meet a number of engagements in his na- 
tive State. At Crawfordsville, Ladoga, Hillsboro and 

Waynetown, Indiana, he preached with great power ; 

(157) 



158 VIRTUS IN ARDUIS. 

and while the wondering people thronged to listen to 
his novel eloquence, many gave earnest heed to his 
solemn message. Scores of men and women were moved 
to obey the Gospel of Christ. 

It is claimed that the church at Hillsboro was planted 
by him; and the present prosperous condition of the 
church at Waynetown is attributed to the impulse of the, 
great meeting held by him and his friend W. C. Warren 
at that time. While his preaching always stirred a com- 
munity, and threw the people into commotion, he could 
not justly be called a popular revivalist ; for he was far 
removed from being a sensational preacher. He had 
no miserable revival fantoccini, no fund of harrowing 
deathbed stories ; and he made no frantic exhortations, 
presented no inadequate motives ; but simply proclaimed 
Gospel truth, and rested upon the all-sufficiency of its 
appeal with a confidence absolutely sublime. There 
was no thunder of stormy oratory about his address ; 
but his thought, his musical voice so perfectly trained 
to its work, his calm and authoritative manner alwa3''s 
senatorial in dignity, together with his awful earnest- 
ness, imparted to his speech a lightning-like fire and 
force to smite the heads, and rive, and melt the hearts 
of men. 

He always began a series of meetings in a new place 
with several discourses on the history and internal evi- 
dences of Christianity ; then he would labor to make his 
hearers understand the foll}^, the enormous evil and woe 
of sin. From night to night the impression deepened ; the 
people grew to be wonderfully quiet anc^ sober, and a 
look of prayerful anxiety settled upon the countenances 
of all. 



VIRTUS IN ARDUIS. 159 

Listening to his sermon on "Count the Cost!" one 
might imagine that he had been down to the realms of 
despair and brought up every possible argument to dis- 
courage men and women from undertaking the Christian 
profession. That night all seemed fearfully dark ! in 
the chill gloom the church itself shuddered, and stricken 
sinners groaned aloud in their agony. But the next night 
when he told of the Savior's love and power and will, 
we were suddenly ushered into a new world of light ; 
sobbing clouds gave place to smiles of hope and tears of 
joy; and then, the church began to gather the precious 
fruits of his wise and patient toil. Those whom he 
brought into the church always came intelligently con- 
verted. His work was solid ; and no doubt will stand 
until that day when the Lord shall inspect it, pronounce 
it good, and establish it forever ! 

In his short but crowded life he held meetings in nearly 
one hundred different places, and succeeded in adding a 
large number of converts to the churches. He delighted 
to work in new ground, and sought opportunities to 
carry the plea for primitive Christianity into fields 
where it had never been heard before. With remarkable 
courage would he go into a strange place, secure a church 
or hall, at his own expense, issue handbills announcing 
his purpose, and begin at once to preach to the people. 
And now there are in our land four growing churches, 
one of them already large and influential, which he, un- 
aided by others, originally planted. 

He was a generous soul, and no one could be more 
willing to help the poor and unfortunate than he was at 
all times. His path of life is marked by many an unself- 
ish deed in befriending the lonely and suffering. He 



160 VIRTUS IN ARDUIS. 

was fond 6f repeating Leigh Hunt's little epic poem, 
and while he severely criticised the hidden doctrine, yet 
delighted to commend the loving spirit of " Abou Ben 
Adhem." 

On one occasion when passing through Bloomington, 
Illinois, while waiting for the eastern bound train, he 
saw at the depot two German boys who seemed to be also 
waiting for something, and in distress. He asked them 
their trouble, but not being able to speak English they 
could not tell, and showed him their papers. From 
these he learned that they had just come over from Ger- 
many, had purchased tickets from New York to their 
destination where they had friends, but unfortunately 
they had been carried seventy-five miles beyond their 
station and put off at Bloomington. Here they were 
among strangers in a foreign land, and without a cent of 
money left. He took them on the cars, and tried to per- 
suade the conductor to carry them back to their station 
without charge, but he refused. So Berty paid their 
fares, and it took the last dollar he had with him, caus- 
ing him afterwards considerable embarrassment ; but he 
said the poor fellows were so ignorant and so troubled, 
that it gave him great pleasure to relieve them. 

He was a firm believer in the goodness of men and 
women. It was his maxim to believe in and treat all 
whom he met as positively good, until they proved to be 
positively bad. He was always quick to enter the list 
for the defence of any man whose fair reputation he 
believed to be unjustly assailed. 

In the noted case of Henry Ward Beecher, Berty 
stoutly maintained that Beecher was a good man and 
innocent of the crimes laid to his charge. He carefully 



VIRTUS IN ARDUIS. 161 

studied every word of the testimony, and declared that 
no reasonable man could intelligently pronomice him 
guilty; that the wicked, in their reptatory hate and jeal- 
ously, had conspired to silence the mightiest orator, and 
destroy one of the most prodigious moral powers of the 
nineteenth century ; and all over the land the most igno- 
rant, depraved and criminal men and women shrieked 
with a hellish delight. He thanked God that he did not 
have to stand in such company ; and predicted that Mr. 
Beecher would pass through the fire unscorched, and be 
justified at the bar of history, and the throne of God. 
No clearer mind, no purer heart, and no more eloquent 
tongue in all the nation volunteered to vindicate the 
name of the great patriot, philanthropist and minister, 
whom he called '' Our and Our Country's Beecher!" 

In his associations with women, Berty was, as a rule, 
formally polite and studiously reserved. He cherished 
the tenderest sympathy and a chivalrous reverence for 
the fair sex, and had the spirit of genuine gallantry 
which belonged to the old school in those days. 



"When courtiers would gallop across four counties 
The ball's fair partner to behold, 
And humbly hope — she caught no cold!" 



He was too loyal, too sincere in everything, and too 

pure in his friendship for woman, to cause by flattering 

attention or the slightest imprudence, any name to be 

linked in idle, even though innocent gossip with his own. 

However, notwithstanding this delicate consideration 

and gentlemanly prudence, he was the unwilling object 
11 



162 VIRTUS IN AEDUIS. 

of much romantic attachment. Many sweet young girls, 
and some noble women allowed their admiration for him 
to deepen into passionate love. 

He was constantly receiving all manner of tokens and 
challenges from them — pretty little notes, flowers, books, 
original poems, and not unfrequently letters declaring 
without restraint a desperate but pleading love. To all 
these he was deaf and mute, but as 

" Gentle as is the sweet south 
To the blue-sighing violets." 

Would you seek to account for this uncourted and un- 
ceremonious infatuation, then remember his charming 
magnetic character, and woman's natural susceptibility 
to all that is truly great and good. And it may help to 
a philosophical conclusion for me to give the following 
suggestive passage from one of the works of Hans 
Christian Andersen : 

"When a girl is just stepping into womanhood all 
manner of fancies awake. She experiences a kind of 
inclination for the heart of man; but this may not be 
acknowledged except for two friends — the clergyman and 
the physician. For these she has quite a passion, 
especially for the former ; she stands in a kind of spiritual 
rapport with him. His physical amiability melts into 
the spiritual. Thus her first love, one may designate 
clergyman love. He preaches himself so deeply into her 
heart ! She melts into tears, kisses his hand and goes to 
church ; but often not so much for the sake of God, as 
on account of the dear clergyman." 



VIRTUS IN ARDUIS. 163 

While preaching in the city of , Berty accepted 

an urgent invitation to spend part of his time in the home 
of a Mr. D., whose wife was an active and highly respected 
member of the church. From the first Mrs. D. seemed 
almost entranced with Berty and his preaching. She 
was a beautiful young woman, and in her warm and 
quickly sensitive disposition was akin to a tropical pas- 
sion flower. She had been early left an orphan, and 
wealthy, and had unfortunately married an aimless and 
dissipated man. She was childless, greatly neglected 
and unhappy. All her comfort was found in the church, 
and in the companionship of her only brother who lived 
with her. 

Berty no sooner understood the sad state of affairs in 
the family, than he determind to do his utmost for the 
conversion of the husband; and within a short time 
seemed to have gained a strong influence over him, and 
began to be hopeful of success. 

One rainy evening, after returning from church he went 
into the parlor, and was soon absorbed in a favorite book. 
But as he sat reading, some one silently opened the door 
and entered the room ; looking up he saw, with surprise, 
standing before him a queenly creature, magnificently 
dressed as if for a wedding, only that her splendid black 
hair hung loosely down to veil the peerless beauty of her 
otherwise uncovered neck and shoulders. It was Mrs. 
D. herself. She took a seat near him, and said that 
she wished to have a long talk with him. She re- 
counted at length her own and her husband's history ; 
and told him that the degraded man had that day 
demanded of her a large sum of money to pay a 
gambling debt, and upon being refused he had abused 



164 VIRTUS IN ARDUIS. 

her shamefully, and had for the twentieth time proposed 
that she should give him one-half her property and take 
a divorce. He had now gone to St. Louis, and would 
not return for two weeks. Having listened wonderingly 
and with pain, Berty assured her of his deep sympathy, 
and wished that it were in his power to help her out of 
trouble. 

Thereupon she hurriedly and excitedly answered : 
''Berty, it is in your power, are you blind that you do 
not see that I love you better than my life ! I never 
loved any one before ; I am three years older than you, 
and you have been thinking of me as your sister, while 
God knows, 1 have only thought, half crazed, day and 
night how to reveal to you, what now in desperation I 
plainly tell you. Perhaps you will despise me forever ! 
But speak the word, and I will sue for divorce to-morrow, 
and I'll go with you anywhere." 

In a few words Berty expressed himself shocked, re- 
buked her for speaking in such a manner to him, declared 
it his belief that this was a crazy fancy brought about by 
distracting troubles ; that she would soon be her own her 
noble, sensible self again ; would then be deeply ashamed 
of this weakness, and wish him to forget it. In con- 
clusion he told her frankly of her whom he called the 
angel of "his life, Ruby Rollins. Then he asked Mrs. D. 
to excuse him for leaving hei home at once, as under the 
peculiar circumstances he felt it his sacred duty to go 
without delay. 

In five days from that time, the husband returned home 
very sick, and providentially stung with remorse on 
account of his sinful past. For two weeks his life 
trembled upon the verge of death; but he recovered, and 



VIRTUS IN ARDUIS. 165 

lived to be a worthy man and loved husband During 
his convalescence his wife told him fully all of what she 
called her own humiliation, and Berty Stover's exalta- 
tion ! 

About the opening of spring Berty appeared thin and 
overtasked; his body would not stand the excessive 
labor imposed upon it, and his health was evidently 
failing. So he resolved to return to the mountains of 
Colorado, but not until after he made another short visit 
to Ruby Rollins. He was distressed to find her looking 
pale and sad ; and was all the more troubled when she 
persistently evaded his many anxious inquiries concern- 
ing her concealed cause of sadness. At last she began 
to plead with him to abandon the ministry, and to take 
up the profession of law; confessed that while she loved 
and honored him more than ever before, she had a 
growing distaste for the idea of marrying a preacher. 
Upon this subject they had many and long conversations. 
He patiently answered her objections one by one, 
and demonstrated the unreasonableness of her request. 
When the moment of parting came, the *last words he 
was ever to hear from her lips were these : "Berty, you 
will not give up preaching, and I cannot give you up ! 
So make haste and come back again. Above all things 
take care of your health." 

Her preparations for the wedding were then nearly 
complete; and she thoroughly appreciated the fact, that 
she would soon take the irrevocable step, which would 
break his strong, devoted heart, and cause a cloud to 
overshadow her own life. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



SPIRITISM. 

Berty was constitutionally of an even and cheerful 
temperament; but delicate health, anxious ambition, 
and weariness from overwork subjected him to occas- 
ional fitful moods. Sometimes his spirits were so 
gloomed that for days together he would remain pensive 
and taciturn ; and was then, as he himself expressed it, 
" as jolly company as an owl ! " But mind you, he never 
hooted ; for his disposition was sweet, and free from any 
savor of sourness or querulous repining. In his usual 
frame of mind he was so vivacious and exhilerated, there 
was so much of good humor, sharp wit, and freshness of 
thought about his easy flowing talk, that he was regarded 
by those who knew him as a most delightful companion. 
Both old and young people always gave him hearty wel- 
come to their social circles. He had a keen sense of the 
ludicrous, and was even boyishly fond of fun. It was 
impossible to anticipate what view he would take of any 
subject presented to his mind ; and the peculiar chute of 
his discussion nearly always carried surprise. Except 
in sound sleep his mind was never idle or at rest; 
hence notwithstanding his busy care as a preacher, he 

found time to write many letters to his correspondents, 

(166) 



SPIRITISM. 167 

and frequent contributions to the public press. Some of 
these contributions were of a humorous turn, and often 
evinced masterly skill in wielding amiable irony. 

In the year 1874 spiritism was exciting much interest 
in Denver, and the Religio-Philosophical brethren of the 
''seance" and ''rapping" school, seemed to be gaining 
a strong foothold in Colorado. Berty was moved to write 
several articles on the subject, which attracted no small 
degree of attention, and had the good effect to bring 
many people to their senses. I have thought it well to 
give one of these fugitive pieces, that you may the 
better know him as he really was. 

STARTLING DEVELOPMENTS. 

EXPERIENCE OF A SPIRITUALIST. 

'E'DiTOB Herald: — 1 believe in spiritualism, but do not 
think it ought to be encouraged. It is enough for mortal 
patience to have living friends, without having all your 
ancestors from Adam down, loafing around, interfering 
with your business and domestic affairs. When our 
friends die, they are dead, and God means for them to 
remain dead, until Gabriel blows his horn ; and we have 
no right to poke our noses into his arrangement of the 
matter. No, sir. Spiritualism will not do. It must be 
put down, or there is no telling where it will lead nor 
what evil results it will bring. The grave, as the goal, 
must not be abolished. When we grow weary of life, 
and heart sick through deferred hope, we turn to the 
grave as a dernier resort; and when we die, we want 
no doubts hanging about the question. We want simply 



168 SPIRITISM. 

to die ; to find the old, old-fashioned death, and not 
commence dancing around on earth like the Will-o'-the- 
wisp, above a bog. Although our lives have been full of 
trouble, and have been sustained by free lunch, and 
credit; although we have been deviled and dunned both at 
home and abroad, still in looking down the vista of future 
years, at the end we saw the grave, and we thought that 
was all. ! sweet delusion to be dispelled by modern 
spiritualism ! When we die we don't die ; we only com- 
mence itinerating the universe or absorbing substance 
from the air and jerking on a body whenever it suits the 
fancy of a crazy medium or pleases a gaping crowd ! In 
addition to this, there is a particular reason why I am 
opposed to infringing upon the privacy of the eternal 
world. In order to set it forth, I will narrate my own 
experience : 

One day a friend of mine told me that there was 
a ''medium" at his house; for me to call around and 
we could have a private seance all to ourselves. He was 
a down right good fellow, so I accepted his invitation, 
and went on the evening mentioned as suitable. With 
a wink my friend led me into a room and into the 
presence of the medium. Now I can swear that there was 
no humbug about this seance. It was a plain, matter-of- 
fact, business-like sort of a seance. There were no 
clothes-presses nor " cabinets," no curtains, nor vails nor 
any machinery whatever. There was a table, on each 
side of which was a chair; on the table was a bottle. 
My friend tipped me another wink and remarked that 
inasmuch as spirits are rather thin, we would need glasses 
with which to bring out their features and proportions 
clearly. He accordingly provided the glasses. Now this 



SPIRITISM. 169 

looked like business, and I was elated with the prospect. 
We took our glasses and proceeded to watch for manifes- 
tations. I will now give the various phenomena in order. 
Before commencing I want to say that what I relate 
is true. If you are skeptical on the subject of spirits, do 
not read my experience yet; you are not ''educated" to 
the point where you can '' appreciate" it ! You see one 
must grow in this belief and must be fed on milk and 
water, before attempting to eat meat. To those who are 
determined to read further I say they must prepare them- 
selves for a history of startling developments. Andrew 
Jackson Davis claimed that he had attained to a condition 
of spiritual development such as only one in ten million 
can. I think that I have gone friend Davis a few million 
better ! Well, here goes for the experience : 

Glass No. 1. — A few raps were heard; some whisper- 
ings, buzzings in the air, but no visible manifestations. 

Glass No. 2. — A great many raps ; confused noises like 
a great hurricane at a distance. A spirit commenced to 
materialize, but only succeeded in getting his nose, mouth 
and eyes into shape. 

Glass No. 3. — Considerable materializing takes place. 
One comical '' spook" materialized very well, but got his 
nose in the wrong place and one of his ears in front of 
his face. 

Glass No. 4. — A great many spirits ; some materializing 
and some were trying to materialize, but there was not 
substance enough in the atmosphere of the room to allow 
of many materializations at one time. Two spirits went 
" snooks" on some substance and materialized half and 
half — that is, one showed waist and legs, while the other 
displayed shoulders and head. One was very thin and 
the other very corpulent. Exceedingly funny. 



170 SPIEITISM. 

Glass No. 5. — More and more spirits. They quarreled 
over substance and jerked eacli other's arms and legs off. 
Some went out on the balcony to procure mortal essence 
from the air. I shook hands with Diogenes and asked 
him about his tub ; loaned Daniel Webster, Esq., twenty- 
five cents. He vanished immediately. 

Glass No. 6. — Lot more spirits ; all materialized in a 
degree. Some had their arms and legs on wrong end to 
the body ; some had their heads under their arms ; 
some, yeSj I declare, some had tails ! I know this seems 
preposterous, but you must remember that I was in a 
state to which only one in — well, no matter. Some had 
tails I tell you ; tails like monkeys ; tails like horses, 
long and flowing ; tails like those a mule wears, smooth 
with a paint brush on the end. This discovery is of 
incal enable benefit to science. While geologists have 
been searching the rocks for the missing link of Dar- 
winism, your humble servant has stumbled upon it 
among the spiritual fossils of eternity. Undoubtedly the 
spirits which wore tails were of that species immediately 
inferior to man, and flourished in corporeal existence at 
a period when the caudal appendix was still found con- 
venient. 

Glass No. 7. — Hundreds of spirits all mixed up and 
making an awful fuss. Some punched me in the ribs ; 
some slapped me on the knee, and one little chap stole 
a yellow silk handkerchief out of my pocket. I suppose 
he spiritualized it. My great grandmother who had at 
last succeeded in materializing, spectacles, crutch and 
all, hobbled up and gravely remarked that ''it was profit- 
able to raise hops. " One fellow was declaiming about 
the Civil Rights and Force bills, and the Louisiana 



SPIRITISM. 171 

troubles. He arrived at the point where republican in- 
stitutions were falling, when another spirit took him 
unawares and jerked his substance from him. As- he 
phantomized in a twinkling, I heard a dismal howl. 

Glass No. 8. — Spirits of darkies black as pitch ; spirits 
of Indians, Egyptians and of every race that ever existed. 
Noah was there, talking about his ark, and he asked 
about the grape juice in the bottle. Joriah was there, 
carrying a piece of whalebone as a relic of former days. 
I saw some Grangers in the crowd. They quarreled 
about salvation and did not want to accept it, because 
Jesus Christ was a Middleman between them and the 
manufacturer ! Captain Jack appeared in the company, 
but vanished when General Canby began to take form 
and show his face. 

Ninth glass revealed nothing new, but more of it. 

Glass No. 10. — Here the Devil himself appeared, scat- 
tered the crowd, fixed his blazing eye upon me, bored 
me through and through with his gaze as with a gimlet 
and asked me if I was not satisfied ; if I was determined 
to carry this thing on until I depopulated heaven and 
hell. Then with a flourish of his hand, he said, **I 
leave you to the results of your folly." He proceeded 
to phantomize, and hardly had the last of his tail disap- 
peared before I heard a shriek. In the corner of the 
room coming out most natural and life-like, was my 
lamented mother-in-law. I hoped that her tongue would 
get in the wrong place ; but no, there it was all right, 
the ruling member, strong beyond death. I had enough 
of the seance, and hastily concluded to leave. I turned 
to my friend who seemed to be exhausted, as he was 
lying with his feet in a chair, and his head in the coal 



172 SPIRITISM. 

bucket. Not thinking it prudent to disturb him, I 
"stepped out and down." In my confusion I went out 
of the window. There was a rush of feet behind me, 
and the cry of a familiar voice, but I did not stop. The 
words, " villian ! murder! despair! Molly!" (Molly is 
my wife's name) rang in my ears, and then I began to 
fall. My gracious ! It seemed as though I had tumbled 
from the very stars ! After awhile I struck something. 
It felt like a policeman's head. Then something punched 
me awhile ; then I began to fall some more. I fell for a 
long time, and finally became unconscious. When I re- 
covered, I found myself in the station house, and it was 
early in the morning. A friend bailed me out, and I 
went home. Molly was getting breakfast. She asked 
me where I had been during the night. I said some- 
thing about seance, when she made a threatening demon- 
stration with the teapot, and I stepped out to get the 
morning paper. I did not take any breakfast, but got 
dinner up town. I have a patch on my nose ; my eye- 
brow is variegated and the doctor has just fixed one of 
my ribs. I believe in spirits. Yes, I vehemently be- 
lieve in all spiritual phenomena ; but experience is that 
they are of no practical utility or profit. I am watching 
for manifestations of the spirits of love and peace at 
home. None whatever up to date. Am afraid there are 
too many disturbing elements 

Yours sadly, Verity Vox. 

P. S. — I met my oldest boy on the streets this after- 
noon, and sent him home, to tell his Ma that Pa had 
signed the pledge ! 



CHAPTER XV. 



HEART-CRIES— LETTERS. 

Denver, Col., February 26, 1875. 
Chaplain G. G. M., U. S. A. 

My Dear George : — Your letter from Fort Concho 
was received last night. It came across the long dis- 
tance of our separation, to my troubled spirit like a white- 
winged messenger of peace. 

Life is made up of such unrelenting elements ; its laws 
are so severe and inflexible, that to a young soul just 
coming into its first opportunities, it seems like some 
monster mill. Who can wonder at the wrecks scattered 
along the shores, when human life with its storms, rocks 
and reefs are all considered. Who wonders at the halt- 
ing, doubting steps of young men just venturing into 
their first responsibilities ! And how feeble the sympa- 
thy ; how very few the men of unselfish brotherly love, 
and clear strong faith to help us on our way. 0, it 
seems awful to me ; and at times my soul is filled with 
traitorous terror, and there is no other heart that bears 
such a well-spring of hope and cheer for me as yours. 

I know you are not aware of the fact, but it is never- 
theless true, that association and communion with you, 
lifts and scatters clouds, and brings into view a glorious 

future ; a peace not yet attained but sure and unfailing. 

(I73j 



174 LETTERS. 

I can never forget that last time when I heard and 
saw you administer the Lord's supper. Never before 
did I see so much meaning and joy of that holy service. 
Dear old Brother Eaton said that day: *'Ah! he is a 
helper in the Lord, a true minister of the healing Gospel," 
and verily you have been a Helper to me. To-day I 
have been in the very slough of despondency, my pre- 
cious hopes were all down in the dust, and obscured by 
ugly doubts. But with your letter has come somewhat 
of the influence of your loved companionship over my 
heart. You speak of Ruby, who has wounded me unto 
death. 

You read Dante and know Beatrice, the ideal who led 
him onward in his fancy, ever into richer fields, through 
the awfal mysteries of heaven and hell, bringing back to 
the world some of the rarest gems of mental imagery. 
Ruby has ever been and is my Beatrice, my inspiration, 
if at any time I could lay claim to any inspiration. But 
Oh ! of late she has seldom winged my thoughts for 
heaven ; often has she dragged them down through the 
sulphurous wards of hell. She has written doubt upon 
almost everything, and cruelly poisoned my faith. Tor- 
ture, torture! and I cannot yet fully define the reason. 
Somehow it has always seemed that something would 
divide us ; that some grim fate was standing ready to 
devour my hope. I have had nothing satisfactory from 
her for weeks, and I feel the silence and evasion to be 
sadly ominous. What else possesses her I cannot tell, 
but one thing is now certain. She does not love me with 
a love which matches mine. I have been woefully 
blinded! And to think this, to be forced slowly, pain- 
fully to this conclusion is shadow enough for one life. 



LETTERS. 175 

Why, she had grown to be everything to me ; all that is 
pure, true, good and beautiful ; and her name in sacred- 
ness was next to that of Jesus and that of my mother. 
But now what is it, must it be, but the name of a sweet, 
mocking dream forever fled? To go through life as a 
poor bird with one wing; to be a harper with a harp 
whose chord of gladness is gone ; as one whose Beatrice 
did not die, but did not love, deceived, and yet lives ! 
From this, in anguish I have prayed God's gracious 
deliverance. 

This is what I meant by the letter which troubled you 
so much ; and I wrote it, because I knew you would 
take part of my burden on your shoulder, and sometimes 
out under the stars, on your march, cry the Savior to 
come and help his poor earth-entangled soldier. 

I would be rid of this poisonous sorrow, but there it 
lies in my heart, curled up like a snake. It hisses and 
stings whenever disturbed. 

Well, my desire and will is strong to live and work to 
help poor men and women out of sin ; but I have a pre- 
sentiment that the Father will bring me home before 
long, and then you must forget my trouble, for there I 
will be troubled no more ! 

I have written to the brethren declining to go to 
Chicago. Since they have let you go away, our people 
and the Free Will church will never unite ; but I would 
have been glad to be your successor in that splendid 
field. 

I am not well ; my lung has begun to bleed ; my heart 
bleeds, and I hardly have the will to rally for further 
battle in life. 



176 LETTERS. 

We are glad, George, you accepted the position offered 
you in the army. We were all talking about it at home 
last night, and agreed that it would prove a wise step on 
your part. 

Down in the genial south, under a warming sky among 
the flowers, birds and luscious fruits, may God give you 
back your physical strength and nerve you for great con- 
quests when you return to civil life. I know that you 
will win a most honorable name in the army, and I am 
already proud of it. 

Especially did my heart warm with pleasure when I 
read the Tribune account of your last two weeks in Chi- 
cago. I can understand what must have been your feel- 
ings. No one more fully appreciates the trials of your 
life ; perhaps no one else knows so well as I, your strug- 
gles under sorrow, and the opposition you have with- 
stood. May the result be thus ever ! May your heart 
never again be cast down ; may God's sunny skies and 
spicy winds be the weather of your fortunes ! 

I have known you ; hence loved you ; and no benedic- 
tion more sincere follows you than mine. When that 
fairer future comes, of which we have talked so much, 
and for which we pray, then will we meet again and talk 
over these and past times, as dreams, with all forgotten 
but the joyous parts. Give my love to all. 

Yours, in the valley, butm sight of the top, thank God ! 

Berty. 



LETTERS. 177 

Denver, Col., March 1st, 1875. 

Dear, Dear Ruby : — Your letter addressed to me here 
at Denver, was waiting me upon my arrival. In answer- 
ing I know not what to say. Since reading it I have 
been in a stupor. The clouds gather about me, and 
their misty arms have held me ever since in their cold 
embrace. Oh ! my God and Savior why have I ever 
lived to see this time ! But I have lived and am now in 
the midst of its bitter experiences. Your letter in some- 
things was a shocking surprise to me, in other things no 
surprise at all. That there was an assiduous rival, and 
another engagement I have really known all along. 

There is scarcely an emotion of your heart, or a 
thought of you mind that you could long conceal from 
me. But I did fondly hope, knowing always as I do now, 
that your love for me was strong, that there would come 
a day of triumph above all difficulties. I never intended 
to say anything to you about it, and never expected you 
to mention it to me. I thought that believing me igno- 
rant of all you would fight the battle through with love's 
heroism, and I intended to assist you by my utter silence 
on the subject; and thus we would surely conquer. 
Like ships upon the ocean we would signal across the 
waves, the rocks and islands to each other, and by and 
by would together glide into the harbor. But this has 
proved a vain hope, and I am left with but one explana- 
tion of the cause ; your love did not, does not, nor will 
ever in the future match mine. True love does not 
falter, if the sacrifice of every precious treasure, of hope, 
and even of life itself is demanded. Such a love must 

be the one that can ever be a helpmeet for mine. 
12 



178 LETTERS. 

When I have, as you know, watched without murmur, 
some of life's best opportunities pass by me for your 
sake, when I have changed the most cherished plans at 
the least intimation of your wishes, and at any time 
would have offered up my life for your good; it is not 
saying too much, to claim that such an affection as this 
must have an equal one in life, or entail direful misery 
upon its subject. 

You say in your letter that you hope that I will give 
you up now as easily as I once said I would ! 

Do you mean to mock me, my Idol ? 

As I might willingly have a limb amputated ; but not 
easily ; so, if at last it is your desire and I know for your 
happiness, I can place your hand in anothers • yes, for 
you I could tear out my own heart and burn it. Th'Bre 
is nothing in the whole affair but a common test of affec- 
tion, but the result involves two lives, either of suprem- 
est happiness, or most pitiable sorrow. By the worship 
of long years, I have evinced m}'- deep and unalterable 
affection ; I have opened up my life, giving you, to my 
joy, glimpses of the life and station to which my ambition 
could carry you, and if while working to accomplish 
your own request, and to insure your happiness, you 
falter, and marry another man, of course I am at once 
conscious of the balmless reason. You know, Ruby 
Dear, that we could have married before this time, or 
could marry now, but that for your good, our judg- 
ments decreed a delay. If, Ruby, you cannot stand 
faithful to me now, in a short period of separation, and 
resist flattering importunities of others, how pray, could 
you hold the banner for me in life's long battle ? The 
marriage ceremony can never win for me, or any other 



LETTERS. 



179 



man, your heart; it's solemn vow would only perjure 
the soul ; and God forbid that one should ever stand by 
my side with an accursed false pledge upon her lips ! 

Well, well, and this is the awakening from beautiful 
dreams, and this my fate ! Gone from me the sweetest 
joy of life, for however men may prize success, fortune 
and honor in the world, there is only one source of full 
human happiness, a deep and full heart of love. Love- 
less and homeless now I shall wander on for but a little 
while longer; always bearing your face as that of my 
ideal, and the memory of what you once were as time's 
and earth's most precious treasure. 

Ruby Rollins ! Ruby Rollins ! Oh ! how that name 
has aroused the bright thoughts of my brain, and the 
tender emotions of my heart, and how now its echo has 
changed and lingers in my soul like the wail of a broken 
heart, or of a dying angel. 

You write that you will passionately love me still 
forever and ever, and yet on the same page tell me of 
your approaching wedding ! Let me relate another case, 
one, perhaps parallel to ours : 

Near V , Kentucky, there lived a young man, 

ambitious and hopeful, named Wallace Harrison. His 
affianced from childhood, a charming and most brilliant 
young woman was named Ellen Carter. 

Because of a bitter hereditary dispute there was no 
connection between his and her families ; but this was 
no opposition to their love. 

When twenty -two years of age, Wallace well knowing 
that his marriage to Ellen must be in the face of violent 
opposition, and would leave them both penniless, because 
of the mutual hate of their relatives, went away to New 



180" LETTERS. 

York, where he soon succeeded in obtaining a fine position 
in one of the large mercantile establishments. He found 
that within two years he would be able to return and 
claim his bride. 

Their correspondence during this separation was very 
limited on account the difficulties attending it j but he 
trusted her love and was happy. Taking advantage of 
his absence every effort was put forth by her friends to 
cause an estrangement of her affections. His name was 
never spoken. But there was thrown into her society a 
rich mule-trader, well whiskered, well bred, considerably 
older than she, and prepared to marry. He was constant 
in his attentions, kind but pressing in his suit. One by 
one the points were gained, and one by one the doubts 
began to gather about her mind. She did not love 
Wallace less, she thought, but it seemed that everything 
was wrong and that fate was pledged against their 
marriage. True, his prospects were very flattering now, 
but suppose he should get sick, or lose his position, 
what could they do then? 

And thus in fickle moods and unworthy doubt the days 
grew darker, until at last she yielded to the entreaties of 
the man, because he was a man, and because it seemed 
that this marriage would be expedient, and she even 
talked as though she was in this acting nobly true to the 
best interest of Wallace. 

In fourteen month's time from his departure she was 
ready ! And through what tears and sighs, and sleepless 
nights of agony vras that preparation completed. 

Wallace was ignorant of all, for she had not the heart 
to reveal to him the truth. Several times she declared 
to her relatives that she could never submit to the sacri- 



LETTERS. 181 

ligious ceremony, but this impulsive cry of her better 
nature was soon hushed. She had told the mule-trader 
that she loved another, and plead to be released. He 
replied that he was not at all sentimental, and was ready 
to risk the chance for love after the marriage. 

The fatal evening came, and in body and soul as help- 
less as a child drugged with opium she was led to the 
sacred altar. There she stood hollow-eyed, pale, tremb- 
ling, and with a look of horror and despair in her once 
beautiful eyes. 

She lived but two years longer, and never passed a 
day without praying to die. This afternoon I would that 
I could lead you, and every other young woman who has 
not the courage and moral heroism to be true to the com- 
mand of her own heart and soul — even against the world, 
and if need be through fire, — to the lonely but eloquent 
grave of that misguided and unfortunate woman. 

If you Ruby, were what I always hoped and believed 
you to be, nothing in this world could separate us, and 
how happy then ray heart ! 

But oh ! my God to be the victim of misplaced affec- 
tion, to have my proud beautiful faith all in ruins, to 
know that you had selfishly deserted me, and that you 
were always unworthy of my enthusiastic love, unworthy 
lovingly ; from this I shrink back and cry out in distress ! 
I am thinking always day and night "Can it be true? 
so unlike her, so different from all the past?" 

Thus around and around I go in my thoughts, but 
always finding for me only pain, despair and death. If 
this involved the loss of wealth and worldly prosperity 
how easily could I pass it by. But now I am called to 
give up my life, the soul of my soul, and the worn 



182 LETTERS. 

remnant of life to drag along like a heavy chain across a 
bleeding heart. And this too, not that you may be 
happy ; but that you may wrong your whole future well 
being, and that your life so full of holy promise, may 
be a false existence, and that you shall sorrow in many 
a dark night as you think bitterly of the dead. When I 
started home from the East I had so much to write, so 
much that I thought you would rejoice to hear. But 
when I arrived it was to know that the bell of hope was 
tolling, and life's freighted bark was going down beneath 
the seas. 

Oh ! had you but told me all when I was there. But 
you say, you could not ! For all this then, Darling One, 
dear above all on earth, know you, that I have not one 
word of harsh reproach. I can but lift my tired hands 
toward heaven, and ask my Great Lord to bless you. He 
will pity me and help me, for even you have never made 
me adore Him, glorious being! any the less. ! Ruby 
how awful and without help is my pain. 

The little jewel pin your own fingers fastened on my 
vest, is there still just as you left it, but now I will take 
it off and put it forever from sight. 

My arm tires now and I must stop. 

Before to-day I could not answer your letter,- and the 
effort I make to write, you can never know, soon perhaps 
you may imagine. To write with such a heart, Oh ! my 
God, my Redeemer why was it ever my lot ! 

Please write me the last long letter, telling me every- 
thing as you promised. I am weak now, the tears are 
streaming down my face. Ruby Rollins, Good-bye ! 
Good-bye, and Oh! sometimes remember and pray for 
me. Again Good-bye ! Berty Stover. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



LETTER TO MRS. HILL, AND HER NOBLE 

REPLY. 

Denver, Col., March 28th, 1875. 
Mrs. Agnes Leonard Hill, Chicago. 

Kind Friend :— Sometimes, when in the past my heart 
has ached, I have gone to you for consolation. 

From your varied experience and richly endowed 
nature, you have drawn helpful lessons for my youth and 
poverty of soul. But Mrs. Hill, how deep are the wells of 
your sympathy, and how strong is your power to comfort 
others? Are they deep and strong enough for me now? 

But let me first tell you a story, a story of my life. 
There are a few only in all the world who can enter the 
tabernacle of my heart and understand its secret service ; 
only a few who seem to appreciate the motives of my 
life, or know whence come my inspirations. You are 
one, and I go to you now as a dying man on the desert 
would haste to a palm-tree or a spring. ^ 

I had a dream — Five years ago in the genial sunshine, 
among the maple groves and opening flowers of an 
Indiana springtime that dream commenced opening and 
expanding with my early hopes and first flushes of 
strength, that dream became to them as real as them- 
selves, and a part of them, like a crown of petals within 

a double flower. 

(183) 



184 LETTERS. 

It was the same dream which has stolen over hearts 
since human hearts first began to beat ; and out of which 
has grown so much of the world's joy and sorrow. 

Years passed on and still I dreamed, dreaming the old, 
old-fashioned dream of mortal love. 

With each month life became more intense, and my 
dream more real, more an essential part of my nature. 
Somehow it gave me a clearer eye to see God and heaven ; 
a purer heart with which to love and worship Him. It 
taught me charity and benevolence. 

It was my dream that hung over my heart like a 
fragrant cloud, distilling sweet as honey-dew, good 
thoughts of men and human life. 

Beautiful dream, than which among all the transient 
joys of earth, God has given nothing* more pure and 
heavenly ! 

Last week I awoke and the dream was gone. Coming 
upon me like a thunderbolt from out a clear sky, striking 
me down and shattering me into the dust, was the start- 
ling news that she was married. 

" Blue Eyes" around whom my whole life is gathered ; 
to whom my thoughts and hopes have flown in the early 
dawn, at noon, and at night, (and those thoughts were as 
purely beautiful as unkissed purple morning glories) 
she has thoroughly, cruelly decievedme, and is married ! 

When light went out from my mother's eyes, long ago, 
when I went to her grave and in agony kissed the very 
clods that covered her ; then I could sit down by the 
flowers we planted above her, press the white cold stone 
with my wet cheeks, and look up beyond the blue sky 
and fiery sun and see my sweet mother, sainted and 
radiant in heaven. I could think of her as ever beauti- 



LETTERS. 185 

ful and blessed ; as being near me always, and as being a 
thousand times more able to watch over and care for me, 
than when she was distressed with pain on earth. But 
in this last sorrow there is no such consolation as this, 
no such forgetfulness even for a moment of the dull con- 
stant pain in my heart. 

And this is human life ! This is that which God's 
own hands have made, and in which he has placed death- 
less souls to battle and suffer and hope ! This is the 
material given, and yet from the coarse brittle stalks we 
are to weave the silken fabric for everlasting wear. 

Oh, why are the laws of our earthly existence so 
ordained as to be remorseless, inexorable; so that our 
every sweet dream must have an end, every joy an 
attendant pain, and every heart some piercing sorrow ! 

Why can there not be some one heart in all the world, 
untouched by bitter poison, thoughts which benumb and 
deaden it within the breast ! 

No ! no ! Never was a summer day so fair that some 
passing cloud did not trail its shadow across the land- 
scape. Never was an hour so joyous that some gloomy 
doubt or care did not creep into its moments and trouble 
its placid. course ; never was a heart so full of gladdening 
music that some false note or discord did not mar its 
melody. 

Bending down, rising up, toiling, sweating, we draw 
up our buckets full from the deep wells of life, and every 
draught we find some dregs, some drops of bitterness. 

Oh for a child's sincere faith, that I might bravely 
look within my heart and see its loneliness, its ruined 
hopes, its brooding desolation ; that I might look out 



186 LETTERS. 

upon the world and see its rude elements, its wrecks, its 
stony ways, and then with eyes lit up with holy thought 
turn my face to God and say : 



"Thy will be done!" 

But with all my effort and prayer I have not been able 
to tear myself away from this Godless, faithless, wicked 
sorrow. 

Mrs. Hill, I believed, nay I do believe that she was 
worth living or dying for. The influence of her pure 
soul and her precious memory were in great part the 
secret cause of my hard struggle for worldly success. 
Oh ! it was a mighty, exhaustless well of love, mine, a 
love that knew it could never die ; a love eternal, not 
bounded by the confines of this world, nor by the end of 
time, but ranging still beyond the sky to that invisible 
country far away ; and I knew that she loved me, and 
gloried in my love. 

Can you explain- the mystery of her marriage ? I mean 
on general principles. Can you, knowing woman's heart, 
tell me why this noble young woman deliberately sacri- 
ficed her heart and mine, abused and trampled the love 
of her life, to marry a man whose only claim was that he 
had been kind to her at one period of her life in the past. 

If I had time and the heart courage to do so, I would 
state all the particulars, but I cannot. I can only say 
now, there was no cause or reason for her conduct. She 
did not doubt me, and because of some feminine freak 
which I cannot understand, she went perverse to the 
dictates of judgment and the impulse of her heart. 



LETTERS. 187 

Please write to me, and pray God that I may stand 
through this tempest. Pardon the broken, rambling style 
of this letter; amid the chaos of sentiments and un- 
restrained lamentations, find reason for a little of that 
sympathy and regard in tenderness, of which I stand in 
such great need. 

With best wishes for you, Edith and Mr. H. 

Very truly Berty Stover. 



REPLY FROM MRS. HILL. 

Chicago, Ills., April 23d, 1875. 

My DEAR Friend and Brother: — I have thought a 
great deal of your letter. of March 28th, and sent to it 
many mental responses, when I had not sufficient phy- 
sical strength to record them upon paper. 

Even now I am by no means capable of close thought 
and clear expression, yet my desire to write prompts me 
to send even an imperfect response, rather than keep you 
waiting any longer. 

I dreamed last night that I was a girl again, and the 
world held only my father and brother and myself; all 
later experience of possession and loss was forgotten in 
this dream of mine, and I was just my father's daughter 
and my brother's sister. The dream was so vivid that 
this morning finds me in new and stronger sympathy 
with that period of one's life, than otherwise I might be 
with the weight of years upon me. 



188 LETTERS. 

And so it seems more appropriate that I should try- 
now to answer your letter, written at just such a time 
in your life, as I can remember in my own. 

You ask how strong is my power to comfort others. 
Alas ! I fear, very w^eak in proportion to my desire in 
that direction. And yet I know all the vague, nameless, 
haunting, goading sort of misery that you suffer ; seem- 
ing as it does to you to stretch into such an eternity of 
discontent. I realize how hard it will be to make you 
believe that your unhappiness is not so lasting as it 
seems intense ; yet none the less the truth remains that 
you will not only outgrow your suffering, but in all 
probability live to rejoice in the very pangs that seem to 
rend your heart strings. 

Again you ask, '' can you explain the mystery of her 
marriage ? I mean on general principles ? 

Yes, I think there are some general principles that 
may apply even in this especial case. 

Young women as a rule are full of crude, morbid, 
absurd notions, and nothing is so distasteful to them as 
anything they can understand, or that savors of monot- 
ony. They imagine that they adore excellence not only 
in the abstract but in the individual ; yet show them a 
perfectly excellent person, about whom there is nothing 
mysterious or romantic, and straightway they pine for 
variety ; for excitement, something, anything that will 
minister to their craving idealism ; their untrained and 
unreasonable imagination. 

You, my dear brother, are what I should like a son of 
mine to be, and in whom I could take intensest pride 
and joy; yet I should know perfectly well that ninety- 
nine out of a hundred starry-eyed, or humid-eyed 



LETTERS. 189 



a 



aDgels ?" in human form in their teens, would infinitely 
prefer some black-eyed villain of dramatic tendencies 
to yourself. I should know this and rejoice in it, hop- 
ing that thus you might be saved alliance with what 
Sydney Smith (I think) ungallantly calls " Si she fool." 

With your fine imagination, acute sensibilities, and 
spiritualized view of people and things, you would of 
course overestimate and idealize those whom you admire, 
and would be incapable of any of the trickery calculated 
to retain the wavering and unreliable fancy of the aver- 
age undisciplined girl. 

I saw Mrs. Major the other day — I mean about a 
month ago — and she spoke of you, saying with sincere 
and unfeigned enthusiasm : " Isn't there something 
almost heavenly about that boy ?" To which I responded 
with earnest affirmation. Then we went on to say how 
you were just the person a well informed mother would 
want her daughter to marry, yet break her heart over 
the fact that her daughter would prefer some practiced 
blase schemer, who would appeal to all the love of 
romance in her nature before marriage, and reduce her to 
abject misery afterwards. 

I myself laugh and blush and sigh, and. am amused, 
and ashamed, and altogether humbled, to remember that 
in my teens I was engaged to a theological student 
whom I jilted principally because a ''dark-eyed, raven- 
haired " individual, some twenty years my senior, in- 
formed me that my " nature was so intense," " tempera- 
ment so poetic," " and afi*ections so exhaustless " that I 
" could never be happy on a steady mental pabulum of 
weak theology and negative goodness," that I " required 
the subjugation of an overmastering passion, such as 



190 LETTERS. 

could be given only by a strong importunate nature," 
all tending to show that the aforesaid raven-haired indi- 
vidual was better calculated to adore and subjugate a 
nature so "intensely poetic," than the poor theological 
student, who loved me a thousand times better than I 
understood or deserved. 

Well the theological student married, and died 
shortly afterwards. The other individual and I had a 
profitless flirtation, and when I think of him now he 
seems to me of all types of human beings, the most ob- 
noxious ; yet he smiles and sneers all the same, and I 
have grown older and wiser ; and the woild moves on 
with the march of fools and cynics ; each learning and 
having learned the folly and bitterness that must be 
learned before one can begin to live wisely and nobly. 

Unto you the future remains. You have taken no 
irrevocable step. You are not bound hand and foot in 
meshes of circumstances you yourself having chosen 
may not escape — consequently it is yours to choose 
wisely and live nobly. You will suffer awhile the old 
ever new pangs of wounded sensibility, and you will 
dream of '' that perfect marriage," that you fancy might 
have have been, but that in reality never was, nor ever 
will be in this world. 

Now I do not mean that there are not congenial and 
satisfactory and even happy marriages. I mean simply 
that there are no '^ perfect marriages," in the sense of 
perfect joy. 

My theory of marriage is, that whether happy or 
otherwise, its object is disciphnary or educational; 
that whatever is weak or inordinate in our nature needs 
and receives such training, such exercise or denial as 
only marriage can give. 



LETTERS. 191 

Marriage is not a haven, it is a voyage. It is not an 
end, it is simply a means ; a formation process by which 
we are made and unmade and remade, until scarce a 
a trace of our former self remains unto us. 

Celibacy dreams, and has a thousand speculations of 
joy and pain ; but marriage puts on the yoke that being 
light or heavy is none the less a yolce; and means work 
and struggle and endurance, such as cannot be imagined 
but must be experienced to be understood. Of course 
there are compensations, but they are not compensations 
of ease and rest. They are rather the stern compensa- 
tions of heroism, the faith that joy shall come when 
patience has had her perfect work ; the consciousness of 
progress, and the hope that '' final good shall fall." 

I hope that what I am writing does not fall meaning- 
less upon your ear as a dull generality, for I assure 
you it is vital truth branded upon my soul by experi- 
ence and observation, that I am quite sure I shall not 
have forgotten when I wake in eternity. I could pray 
that it might be granted me to say something that would 
comfort and direct you ; something that would lead you 
out of your doubt and darkness to happier heights of 
clearer vision, that you might be led to realize that God 
denies us no good thing ; that if He give or permit us pain 
it is to spare us deeper misery, and to prepare us for 
greater joy. 

Oh ! take this last sweetest, deepest, truest truth to 
your heart, and you will find in it balm and healing. 
And so may all good angels help and comfort you as I 
do not know how to help and comfort, fervently prays 
Your friend and sister, 

Agnes Leonard Hill, 



CHAPTER XVII. 



LAST DAYS. 

" His greatness flows around our incompleteness, 
About our restlessness — His rest." 

As previously related, in the spring of 1875, Berty'a 
health began to fail. Both body and brain had been 
tasked to their utmost for years ; and at last while preach- 
ing at Hillsboro, Indiana, his strength was exhausted, 
so that he was compelled reluctantly to withdraw all 
appointments, quit the field, and return an invalid to 
Denver. But, once there in that deliciously soothing 
and medicinal atmosphere he quickly rallied ; and soon 
thought himself well enough to mount the pulpit again, 
and to the delight of the people he preached in Denver 
six more Lord's days. As the immediate and visible 
result forty new members were added to the church. 

It was in this period that the one cruel disappoint- 
ment of his life fell upon him. He received a farewell 
letter from Ruby Rollins, and inclosed, the announce- 
ment of her marriage ! 

For several days he was bitterly grieved, his face was 

white, and into his great blue soulful eyes there came a 

settled far away look, as of one watching in the night for 

the coming of day ; the look of a sorrow that expects no 

help on earth. 

(192) 



LAST DAYS. 193 

His father and brother, both of whom loved him 
almost to idolatry, and who thoroughly understood the 
keen sensibility and noble susceptibility of his uncommon 
nature, tenderly did all in their power to comfort and 
cheer him. And they weye soon rewarded by seeing 
him come out from under the black clouds. 

In his baptism of sorrow he had cried to God for help 
and guidance, and his prayers had been answered ! 

Marvelous peace, with sublime faith filled his soul ; 
his face became radiant with a strange sweet light ; and 
henceforth as he stood in the pulpit, he was as one 
already transfigured; just about to enter the gates of 
the golden dawn. To see and hear him made his friends 
weep ; they knew not why, unless it was the sad pre- 
sentiment that he was going away, and they should see 
him no more on earth. His health was now known to 
be in a very precarious state, but, while he was not at 
all dismayed by the prospect of death, still his will was 
strong to live. 

The dear boy, who had already accomplished a grand 
and lasting work, said that he had done comparatively 
nothing, and prayed that he might live to do great good 
in the world. 

For a few weeks his illness confined him to the house, 
although not to his bed. He had often quoted these fine 
words of Goethe, 



" Like as a star, 
That maketh not haste, 
That taketh not rest, 
Be each one fulfilling 
His God given hest!" 
13 



194 LAST DAYS. 

And now during these days, as ever, he kept him- 
self busy — busy reading and writing, planning and pre- 
paring for future work. While he wrote, he would often 
be heard singing to himself — for he loved to sing, and 
had a well trained and most musical voice. Among his 
favorite hyms were : 



" Jerusalem ! my happy home ! 
Name ever dear to me !" 
and 

** As down in the sunless retreats of the ocean, 
Sweet flowers are blooming." 



Thirteen days before his death he went out to take a 
walk with his brother James, but while on the street he 
was suddenly taken with hemorrhage of the lungs, and 
had to be carried home. 

Despite all that love and skill could do for his relief, 
he became from day to day gradually weaker ; and 
while others were, through blinding hope, deceived, he 
himself contemplated the end as near at hand, and inevi- 
table. 

About eight o'clock in the evening of June 1st, 1875, 
the fever left him, and he was free from all pain ; but 
the physicians pronounced him in a dangerous col- 
lapsed state. When, at eleven o'clock, all had been 
done that human power could do to stay his life, and it 
was evident that he was passing away, his brother went 
up to the bedside, bitterly weeping. Looking at him 
sorrowfully and affectionately Berty said, *' Jimmy, 
don't cry ! " 

He answered, '* Ah ! Berty, how we all love you!'' 



LAST DAYS. 195 

'* Yes, I know that Jim, but you must not cry for 
me ! I have been expecting this for some time, and am not 
at all taken by surprise. I know that my friends love me, 
and I love them, but I must leave them for awhile. All 
my plans for this world are gone, they were but things 
of the imagination. I had pictured for myself a glorious 
career in life, but, this poor body could not carry me 
any further, and I know that it is best for me to leave it 
now, and go up higher, but I do regret to leave you all." 

Thus he continued talking to his beloved brother, at 
intervals on through the night, until at last he called all 
the family around him, and delivered this his last dis- 
course : 

*' I am going away to enter into a much grander and 
sweeter life in the other world ! What a glorious thought 
— I shall soon be free from all the ills and hindrances of 
this physical existence ; there will be no hindrances 
there. I have finished my short course, and my own 
plans are disappointed. You all know my life's history, 
you have known" everything about me. My life is an 
OPEN BOOK, and I have nothing to tell you except this : 
I always preached what I believed to be true ; now I 
know what I 'preached is true ! You must remember that 
we only begin to grow here ; I am putting away this 
frail body that I may develop into real manhood in a 
fairer world. Oh ! what grand and glorious fields I shall 
enter yonder on the other side I There will be no pain, 
no trouble, no hindrance for us there !" 

After this, as though he were only going away on a 
journey, and would soon return, he spoke a few appro- 
priate words to each member of ihe family, shook hands 
and almost cheerily said, Good-bye ! But finally when 



196 LAST DAYS. 

parting with his dear broken hearted father, he clutched 
his hand, looked into his face with a longing look all 
eloquent with grateful love, and with quivering lips 
said : Bye-bye ! Bye-bye Pa ! 

Then, just as the sun began to rise upon a calm June 
day, a day all glorious with one of Denver's beautiful 
blue and cloudless skies, he fell gently into his last long 
sleep. Just as the light of day broke upon the world, 
eternity dawned upon the peerless spirit of the friend 
whom we shall mourn until we go hence and meet him 
in heaven. 

" It is well, saint departed ! 
Well with you forever blest — 
Well Avith us who journey forward 
To your glory and your rest." 



THE FUNERAL. 

The '' Boy Preacher " — Death, Funeral and Burial 

OF Berty Stover — Synopsis of Elder U. C. 

Brewer's Sermon. 

[Prepared for the Crawfordsville Saturday Evening 
Journal by F. G.] 

On Wednesday, June 2, Senator Harney, of Ladoga, 
received a telegram from D. C. Stover of Denver, Colo- 
rado, that his son Berty had departed this life at 6:15 
that morning ; and that he would arrive with the re- 
mains on Saturday for funeral and interment. The 



LAST DAYS. 197 

corpse arrived on the 4:41 train Saturday afternoon and 
was received by many relatives and hundreds of friends 
at the depot. The body was taken to the residence of 
Mr. Harney, who is an uncle of the deceased. Great 
pains had been taken in preparing the body for the long 
journey of 1000 miles. Berty looked almost as natural 
as life ; seemed only to be asleep and one would expect to 
&:ee him breathe ; the corpse appeared fresh and beautiful. 
At 10:30 A. M Sunday was assembled at the Christian 
church the second largest number that ever met at a 
funeral in this place — that of Elder 0. B. Wilson, a few 
months since, being the largest. Services were conducted 
by Elder U. C. Brewer, now located at Greensburg, this 
State, who had been telegraphed for to preach the 
funeral sermon. Hymn 1046 of the Christian hymn 
book was sung, fourteen verses of the last chapter of 
Revelation read, and prayer offered by Elder Joel Ridge. 
The congregation then united in singing hymn 1032, 
Berty 's favorite : 

"My God ! Silent to thee," etc. 



THE SERMON. 

Your reporter, not being a stenographer, was not able 
to take the discourse in full. So your readers will have 
to be content with the outlines and a few points imper- 
fectly sketched from the beautiful tribute to the memory 
of the departed. 

Elder Brewer arose with tearful eyes, throbbing heart 
and plaintive voice, and read the twelfth chapter of 
Ecclesiastes. 



198 LAST DAYS. 

He then said : I am before you this Lord's day morning 
to perform a very sad duty. The ties that bind me to 
the friends of the beloved one, whose pale form lies be- 
fore lis, and my warm love for that noble and genial 
spirit that once animated this body, will render it impos- 
sible for me to discharge as I would the duties of this 
solemn occasion. And you will therefore, have to be 
content with the spillings of a heart that to-day, in 
tenderest sympathy, " weeps with those that weep." 

I am here to pay a tribute to the memory of one who 
remembered his Creator in the days of his youth ; and 
though the silver cord is loosed, the golden bow] broken, 
and the pitcher broken at the very fountain of youth, yet 
the evil day never came to him. E'en as the dust 
returned to the earth as it was, and the spirit to God 
who gave it, the sun that lighted his sky was not 
darkened, for it was the Sun of Righteousness ; and the 
stars of God's promise made -light the night of the grave. 

" The doors are shut, the mourners go about the streets 
and all the daughters of music are brought low," for he 
has gone to his long home. Sad, very sad, is his depar- 
ture, but glorious, unspeakably glorious the end of his 
journey, for that long home to which he has gone is the 
Father's house on high. Death came as a winged angel 
to bear him up to the sunlight of the heavenly glory, and 
although his career on earth was so brief, yet in view 
of his noble and active life, we may say as we gather 
about his casket : '' Well done good and faithful ser- 
vant, enter into the joys of thy Lord." 

My discourse will be a biographical story, and that a 
mere sketch of that grand young life. . 

Berty, son of D. C. and Fannie Harney Stover, was 



LAST DAYS. 199 

borri in Crawfordsville, June 26, 1853, and so had almost 
completed his twenty-second year. Ilis parents settled in 
Ladoga in 1854. While young he had received a very severe 
attack of the whooping-cough, which came near proving 
fatal, and from the effects of which he never recovered 
entirely. The dear grandma rescued that young life. 
In the very nest of her warm and loving heart he was 
carried safely through ; and on that account she mourns 
with a deeper intensity than any of the friends. His kind, 
true and amiahle mother died in 1862, when Berty was 
but nine. In her death he sustained a deep loss. He was 
ever true to the memory of his mother. None can fill the 
place of a mother. A father cannot be as a fond mother, 
however kind and loving. To her worth in the last hour 
of his life he alluded with fond recollection. He said to 
his brother,/' Jimmy, we have had two mothers. (His 
step-mother was a sister to his mother.) They have both 
been mothers in truth." 

Passing over his youth let us speak of his education, 
which commenced here in your own schools. Entering 
the Ladoga Academy quite young, he as a child was upon 
Prof. Waldin's knee, while reciting lessons in Greek and 
Latin. He matriculated in the college at Lexington, Ky., 
in 1868, and remained three years. On account of his 
health, he was one year in the city of Dubuque, Iowa, 
preaching for the church, attended with fine success. He 
was highly esteemed by his professors, ever humble, 
kind and meek. 

He was loved by all who knew him ; as evidence of 
this we have in the audience to-day among the mourners, 
a respectable showing of our Catholic friends, who sel- 
dom, if ever, attended services here, but for the great 



200 LAST DAYS. 

regard they entertained for Berty they are here to bear 
testimony. 

At the age of eleven, in this house, he made the good 
profession under the service of John O'Cane. 

He was immersed by Elder 0. B. Wilson in the mill 
race, having on a robe prepared for the occasion. Coming 
up out of the water a lamb of God, peace and confidence 
beaming from his countenance, he was gently kissed by 
the officer. Going forth from here two years afterwards, 
with the simple Gospel sling to win souls to Christ, many 
will, when that blood washed throng meet in judgment, 
own their salvation at his hands. 

The genius of Byron is insignificant compared with the 
moral greatness of Borty Stover. It was not difficult for 
him to be a Christian. His life went out preaching 
Christ. He said in his last hours, " My life is an open 
book." To-day we are reading this book. All his words 
were true. It is to live a Christian life, when we remem- 
ber our Creator in the days of our youth. You will 
remember his connection with the Sunday School at this 
place. Ever present, full of interest, and sometimes 
would recite as many as two hundred verses committed 
through the week. How ready was he in his ministry in 
repeating the verses learned for the Sunday School. '' If 
I have any bright arrows in my quiver, I got them in 
the Sunday School." His first public efi'ort in the ministry 
was at Hebron, when fourteen years old, he followed 
Bro. Wilson in an exhortation. One month afterwards he 
preached his first discourse at the same place upon the 
earnest solicitation of the brethren, they being so favor- 
ably impressed with his exhortation. Old Hebron will 
ever be connected with the dear life. 



LAST DAYS. 201 

In his preaching he traveled much. He made several 
tours through Indiana and Illinois. While at Lexington 
he preached for many churches of that section and of 
Paris. In all his labor he met with great encouragement 
and success. At one time, while located at Dubuque, so 
able were his discourses and so attractive his efforts, that 
one of the city papers accused him of repeating some one 
else's. But shortly afterwards, under trying circum- 
stances while preaching, great excitement being created 
by a drunkard entering the house and having to be put 
out, he displayed great calmness and self-possession, and 
proceeded after the excitement just where he left off and 
finished his sermon in good order. So that next day 
another of the city papers came to his relief and claimed 
originality, as under the trial of the day previous no one 
so young in years could have gone through if quoting 
another's production. His efforts were his own as was 
veritably established before he left Dubuque. In his 
labors there, Bro. Carter, a man of noble worth, stood by 
him and gave him great assistance and encouragement. 
The great meeting of his life was at Golden City, the 
old capital of Colorado. When he began his labors 
there, no church organization had been effected. Under 
his labors he succeeded in organizing a church of one 
hundred members and in building a church house costing 
over six thousand dollars. Standing on the corner stone 
he preached his last discourse of that first great meeting. 
He then visited Chicago and preached for two months, 
greatly endearing himself to many in that great city, 
drawing vast crowds and attended with his usual success. 
Coming then to Crawfordsville, where I was holding a 
meeting, he preached three times, and I felt proud of his 



202 LAST DAYS. 

efforts. His next meeting was here at Ladoga, assisted 
by Bro. Warren, when over twenty were added to the 
church. He was an exception to the rule — he had honor 
even in his own country. 

At Hillsboro, his strength gave way and for the time 
he had to give up preaching. He returned home to 
Denver and afterwards preached some six Lord's days, 
during which time some forty were added to the church. 
He made another visit to Kentucky with his sister, then 
returned to Denver and remained till his death. 

We now come to the last sad picture. We see the 
slender youth with fair hair, blue eyes and crowds gath- 
ered around him. He has overtaxed his physical system 
laboring for the Lord. He was a diligent disciple, and 
would steal away into the bushes during his last meet- 
ings, so as not to be intruded upon by callers, and fur- 
ther prepare for the great work before him. About 
thirteen days before his death, he took his last walk 
with Jimmy to the post-office. He took suddenly with 
hemorrhage of the lungs and had to be carried home. 
Family, friends, and even strangers, administered to his 
wants and made his last hours as comfortable as pos- 
sible. About daylight the morning of his death, he 
delivered his last discourse. Calling the family around 
him, he told them his time had come. " I have finished 
my course ; short, brief, and this little body can carry 
me no longer. It is a frail support. I have preached 
what I believed was true. Now I know it is true." 
*'This life does not develop our real manhood. We 
only begin to grow here," he said ; " I am putting away 
this frail body that I may develop into manhood in a 
fairer world." Beautiful discourse, and fitting prelude 



LAST DAYS. 203 

to a glorious immortality ! Then one by one he bade 
the family farewell, and crossed the river. He is not 
dead ! He lives ! His earthly tabernacle has fallen 
down, but he has gone to his house in heaven. 

In the shadow of the great mountains, far away from 
the home of his youth, in the land of the stranger, 
and at his post on the outworks of Zion, this valliant 
young soldier of the Cross fought his last battle ; and 
now, the body that for a while housed that brave spirit, 
is brought back for burial by the side of loved forms in 
yonder beautiful graveyard. 

Let sweetest flowers bloom about his grave, for his 
spirit dwells amid the beauties of Paradise ! That sad 
and far away scene in the mountain land of the great 
West, and the memory of his labors there, suggest those 
beautiful lines written in memory of a young missionary : 

" Away from the home and the friends of his youth, 
He hasted, the herald of mercy and truth ; 
For the love of his Lord, and to seek for the lost, 
Soon alas ! was his fall, — but he died at his post." 

** The stranger's eye wept that in life's brightest bloom. 
One gifted so highly, should sink to the tomb ; 
For in ardor he led in the van of the host ; 
And he fell like a soldier— he died at his post." 

" Victorious his fall, for he rose as he fell. 
With Jesus, his master in glory to dwell ; 
He has passed o'er the stream, and has reached the bright 

coast, 
For he fell like a soldier — he died at his post." 

" And can we the words of his exit forget ! 
O, no ! they are fresh in our memory yet ; 
An example so brilliant shall never be lost, 
We will fall in our work— we will die at our post." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



TRIBUTES OF RESPECT TO THE MEMORY OF 
BERTY G. STOVER. 

[By the Christian Church at Denver ; The Denver Times, and 
Rocky Mountain Herald.^ 

Whereas, Our Heavenly Father, in his wise dispensation, 
has appointed unto all men once to die ; the mortal body to 
return to dust, whence it came, the immortal spirit to God who 
gave it; and 

Whereas, The spirit of our beloved brother Berty G. Stover, 
has left the weak and frail tenement of clay, to join the spirits 
of dear ones gone before, and all the redeemed, to be forever 
with the Lord, Therefore it is 

Resolved, by the members of the Christian Church at Denver, 
meeting as a worshipping congregation, this sixth day of June, 
1875, that in the death of Brother " Berty," the church loses a 
member of brilliant promise, an orator, and a preacher of the 
Gospel of great power and proficiency ; a young man of amiable 
traits, gifted, yet guileless as a little child; and we do deeply 
mourn his loss ; not however, as those who have no hope, for 
the promises of the Gospel of Christ assure us that the lustrous 
spirit of our young brother slimes peerless and bright, beyond 
the rolling river ! And we will cherish this hope, to imitate the 
pure and good in his life, that we too may say at the final disso- 
lution — "Going, going to stand high In the Kingdom of our 
Lord and Master!" 

Resolved, That we extend to the sorrow-stricken father and 
mother, brother and sister. Christian consolation, praying that 

(204) 



TRIBUTES OF RESPFCT. 205 

the promises of the Gospel may be to them full of comfort, 
healing their wounded and bleeding hearts, and so consoling 
and brightening until the perfect day. 

Resolved, That these resolutions be entered on the Church 
Record, and a copy furnished the family of our deceased 
brother. 

Done by unanimous vote of the Church ; Denver, Colorado, 
June 6th, 1875 A. D. Jerry N. Hill, Clerk. 



OBITUARY. 

[From The Rocky Mountain Herald, by Col. Goldrick, Editor.] 

Rev. Berty G. Stover, the talented '' Boy Preacher," 
died in this city last Wednesday morning. His funeral 
was attended by the many friends of the family, the 
Rev. Mr. Vincent officiating. Young Mr. Stover was 
born in Crawfordsville, Ind., June 26th, 1853. He was 
educated at the Kentucky University, and commenced 
preaching as early as 1869, (in his sixteenth year). He 
immigrated to this Territory for his health, in 1873, and 
built up a church (Disciples or Christian) at Golden 
City. Latterly he had resided in Denver, with his 
parents but purposed to return east this year, to con- 
tinue his ministerial labors at Dubuque or Chicago. Rev. 
Berty Stover was a young man of the most brilliant 
promise, for the cause of religion and literature. Per- 
haps it may be stated, without the fear of contradiction, 
that he was peerless, in precocious proficiency^ as an orator, 
preacher, and literateur. Had he lived, and had his 
health allowed him to continue in the course commenced, 
he would have become a second Wesley or Whitfield in 



206 TRIBUTES OF RESPECT. 

the western world. But consumption had taken hold of 
him, and death ensued after a short illness. The de- 
ceased was a young man of amiable traits ; a gifted genius, 
yet guileless as a child. During last winter he wrote some 
splendid sketches for the Herald, on the shams of 
Spiritualism, and other themes of the day, under the 
nom de plume of " Verity Vox." Only a few weeks ago, 
he indited a stanza to some friends, for publication in 
this paper, which we publish to-day in another column. 
His versatility at prose or poetry, speaking or writing, 

"From grave to gay, from lively to severe," 

was truly wonderful. May his short but glorious life be 
long remembered in godly kindness by all who knew 
him and who loved him — never to name him but in 
praise ! 



DEATH OF BERTY G. STOVER, THE BOY 
PREACHER. 

[From The Denver Times.} 

This morning at fifteen minutes past six o'clock the 
soul of Berty G. Stover passed from earth to its rest in 
heaven. 

Mr. Stover, considering his age, was one of the remark- 
able characters of the country, and in the few years he 
lived upon earth, as a minister of the Gospel, performed 
as much faithful and effective labor as many ministers of 
thrice his age. He was a member of the body of Chris- 



TRIBUTES OF RESPECT. 207 

tians called Disciples, and commenced his pulpit labors 
in their behalf, in the State of Indiana, when he was but 
one month over fourteen years of age. Since that time, 
until he came to Colorado for his failing health two years 
ago, he had been constantly engaged in his master's 
work, and delighted many audiences in Chicago, Cincin- 
nati, and other large cities of the Union, with his fervid 
eloquence, and earnest zeal in behalf of the good work. 
He was born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, on the 26th 
day of June, 1853, entered Kentucky University in the 
fall of 1868; continued there for three years, and 
preached most of the time during that interval. In 1870 
he took charge of the church at Dubuque, Iowa, and con- 
ducted a series of revival meetings there with wonderful 
success and approbation. Two years ago, with his parents, 
he removed to Colorado, and since that time has earnestly 
tried to refrain from all pulpit work, but his earnest soul 
and strong coDvictions of duty would scarcely permit 
him the rest so much needed. Shortly after reaching Den- 
ver, he commenced the work of building up a church in 
Golden, and succeeded so admirably that in a few months, 
where before there was not even an organization, there 
was a large and thrifty congregation and a commodious 
brick edifice in which to worship. Last fall, at the solici- 
tation of many of his former admirers in the city of 
Chicago, he was induced to visit that place for the pur- 
pose of holding a series of meetings, and while en- 
gaged in the work was stricken down by an attack of 
pneumonia, from which he never fully recovered. About 
one month ago he was attacked with bleeding at the 
lungs, and since then has gradually sunk, until this 
morning his spirit took its flight. 



208 TEIBUTES OF RESPECT. 

His parents are both from distinguished families in the 
country — his father having at one time held the important 
position of Agent of the State Indiana, and his mother 
being a near connection of the Harneys of Kentucky, who 
have added much lustre to that great commonwealth. 
His peculiar characteristics were, in private life, a gentle, 
unobstrusive and almost timid disposition ; while in 
the pulpit he was fervid, eloquent, argumentative and 
convincing. 

If he had lived, he would have made one of the 
brightest ornaments of the pulpit of Christ, and much 
good must have resulted to those who came under his 
magic influence. 

He would have been twenty -two years old on the 26th 
of the present month. His remains will be taken to his 
old home in Indiana for interment, and will, in the 
charge of his father, start on the Kansas Pacific train in 
the morning. Short services will be held at his parents' 
home on Champa street, at half past six o'clock to-mor- 
row morning, previous to the departure of his remains. 

We can all shed a tear over the loss of one so good and 
brilliant, at so early a period in his career. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



IN MEMORIAM ! 

[By Agnes Leonard Hill, Chicago.] 

^^ A frail body, bearing the burden of too great a brain, 
broke at last under the weight." Such no doubt would 
be the physician's verdict concerning this boy ; yet this 
is but a feeble utterance of a partial truth, for it was not 
only brain, not merely cold intellectuality, but in addi- 
tion an intense and luminous soul that conspired against 
its earthly tenement. He was not simply precocious, 
not merely brilliant with the evanescent glitter of selfish 
recklessness, seeking from a morbid vanity to attract 
attention, and unscrupulous concerning the means by 
which this might be attained. He was brilliant yet pro- 
found. He was eloquent, yet he was also conscientious 
and spoke from the pressure of strong and high convic- 
tions. He was absolutely and truly devoid of affectation, 
and neither flattery nor envy could induce him to put on 
any garb of fanatical sanctimoniousness, or divert him 
from the sublime simplicity of a genuine and exalted 
piety. He was so remarkably free from any " tricks or 
manners " that the superficial and vulgar observer would 
fail to realize his superiority. It is not extravagant to 
say that he was as simple and unaffected as a child, yet 

austerely pure as an angel. The highest influences of 
14 (209) 



210 IN MEMORIAM. 

culture and affection had surrounded him from infancy ; 
yet so far from engendering in his nature any supercil- 
iousness or Godless contempt for others, he had a mar- 
velously humble and tender appreciation of his advan- 
tages, and took to himself therefor not the slightest 
credit. 

Once after hearing from him a very remarkable 
sermon, a lady friend many years his senior took his 
hand and said with tears, " Child ! Child ! how did you 
learn to talk so? It is wonderful, it is beautiful !" 

Few boys of nineteen could have carried themselves 
nobly and simply through such an outburst j but he 
without even flushing, scarcely even smiling, replied : 
" My father always took me to hear the best speakers. 
He trained me to it ; that is all ;" and this without any 
affectation of deprecating praise, but simply in a spirit 
of filial devotion to his father, and unconsciousness con- 
cerning himself. With all his gifts and attainments, he 
had a boyish appreciation of life in man}^ respects. He 
was by no means eccentric or abnormal. He had simply 
a grand symmetrical nature that was sublime, yet not 
unbeautiful. After listening to the wide, wild sweep 
of his imagination, and being borne up to the very gates 
of Heaven itself, on the wings of his oratory, it was 
restful and healthful to meet him an hour or two after- 
wards and find him a laughing bo}^, a dear unspoiled 
child, making no attempt to wear the gloom and mystery 
sometimes called " Genius." It was at one such a time 
that a lady said to him : '' Tell me frankly how these 
middle aged commonplace ministers treat you when they 
are most envious. I have seen them spiteful towards 
you, and I have wondered if you ever noticed it." 



IN MEMORIAM. 211 

He listened eager and attentive as a child might listen, 
then a smile broke over his face, and a keen sense of the 
humorous seemed to possess him as he said : " 1 remem- 
ber one time, when I was more than ordinarily carried 
away by my religious feelings, and had so deep a sense 
of the greatness and glory of Divinity that it seemed 
presumptuous for me to have spoken at all, one of the 
middle-aged men you allude to came along; and feel- 
ing as humble as a dog in my momentary self-deprecia- 
tion, I involuntarily drew a little nearer to get as it 
were under the shadow of his wing to hide after my 
preaching. When he drew himself up, frowned gloomily 
at me, and said: 'Don't be puffed up, boy! Keep 
close in the shadow of the cross !' and he had the air of 
calling a policeman to help me away from an apple 
stand." 

The fine dramatic. representation he gave of this little 
episode defies description upon paper, yet it passed 
before his hearers vivid and life like. The pompous, 
puffing, vulgar middle-aged party, and the sensitive, 
shrinking boy whose humanity trembled with the might 
of his own lofty and intense soul. He was superior to 
resentment, yet sensitive to the slightest shade of appre- 
ciation or neglect. His goodness was not merely good 
nature and inability to appreciate or perpetrate satire, 
for he was capable of the most delicate sarcasms that yet 
had in them not the faintest suggestion of venom. For 
example; a friend was speaking to him of a minister 
who had lately left a church, after having had charge of 
it for some time, and asked, " Do you suppose he made 
any impression upon his hearers during all his minis- 
tration?" "Well,"" he replied with mock gravity, 



212 IN MEMORTAM. 

" every great man must represent some central truth, 
must impress some great fact or controlling principle 
upon the minds of those he teaches, and I found, after 
some research, that the great truth, the moral principle, 
the one important fact taught hy this man, and left as a 
monument to his glory in the minds of his parishoners, 
was — that it did not tahe Noah as long to build the ark as 
many imagined P^ And this sarcasm was without the 
faintest approach to hitterness, contempt or reproach. 
It sprang merely from the gayety of a guileless yet 
penetrating and truthful nature. 

No printed sermon of his could do justice to his ora- 
tory, since it derived its greatest power from his personal 
presence, his earnestness, sincerity, tenderness, self- 
unconsciouness, and a certain suggestion of reserved 
force that he carried always with him, and of which he 
was at times dimly conscious. 

^' I could do better if I had more confidence in myself. 
Great orators have great confidence in themselves, and I 
don't think I have enough," he said confidentially to a 
friend, with that beautiful frankness and lack of ostenta- 
tion so characteristic of him, and it was this apprecia- 
tion of an Ideal forever beyond his efi*orts that redeemed 
him from shallowness, or merely superficial brillianc}'-, 
or even an unhealthy and overweening egotism. He 
did not affect to depreciate himself and parade a vain 
and mock humility. He simply did underestimate him- 
self for the reason that he compared himself not with 
others, but contrasted his achievements and attainments 
with his aspirations towards infinitude, and was humbly 
conscious of the discrepancy that existed between them. 
It was the greatness of his purpose that forever over- 



IN MEMORIAM. 213 

shadowed the possibility of human performance, and 
kept him from overestimating, or duly estimating his 
own heroic life. 

Only those who were capable of fully appreciating him 
can understand that the world is poorer for losing him. 
Other men may have gifts of oratory, may have in addi- 
tion to his intellect, perhaps his delicate sympathies and 
deep faithful heart ; yet when again shall another stand 
in our midst, who in addition to these rare and beauti- 
ful gifts shall have his purity of soul, his chaste and 
serene simplicity of character that was at once its proof of 
true greatness, and its chrism of glory ? Who shall talk 
to us as he talked ? Not merely with language so ex- 
pressive or idea so striking and original, but with the 
peculiar earnestness, the childlike sincerity and the 
divine tenderness that made our hearts burn within us 
while he spoke in our midst. 

Men and women of genius, men and women of distinc- 
tion, all manner of men and women are living and dying 
all around us, and life has too many urgent and prosaic 
duties to allow us pause for common grief, yet before this 
grave we stand, awed, bereft, as at the gateway where 
an angel passed and left us groping heavenward in the 
dark. Before the memory of this exalted and beautiful 
soul we stand as before a vision of the many mansions ; 
for having known how it is possible for a soul to rise 
and shine even in this present life, we have a brighter 
hope and firmer faith concerning the life which is to 
come. And the lesson taught by this brief, beautiful life 
embodies a great truth, so often forgotten, yet so nec- 
essary to be remembered. It is the influence of char- 
acter and the superiority of simply being noble, over 



214 IN MEMORIAM. 

any feverish action, for the charm and glory of this life 
lay in its loyalty to the highest. Many have competed 
with him merely as an orator. The world is full of 
books and sermons and great intellects, but the world is 
not full of such characters j the world has not many 
souls so pure and yet so intense ; having in it heights 
reaching to the very battlements of Heaven, and yet 
possessing depths of sympathetic tenderness and hu- 
mility wherein the 'least of these little ones," might 
find refuge and rest and generous affection. 

He was no mere performer, taking the pulpit for a 
stage, and regarding all the world as merely an audience 
to contemplate his gifts, and admire his attainments. 

He was rather a divine messenger eager to do his 
appointed work, filled with high enthusiasm that carried 
him on to exertions beyond his physical endurance, and 
so he died. 

He was so young to die ; yet he lived not in vain, and 
the soul that contemplates appreciatively his work and 
purpose, is enriched and uplifted, and made more noble 
by this contemplation. " Whatsoever things are pure, 
whatsoever things are lovely and of good report, think 
on these things I" 



CHAPTER XX. 



OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF 
CHRIST IN AMERICA. 

About fifty years ago a few faithful men, in different 
parts of the country, inaugurated what was called the 
*' Relgious Reformation of the Nineteenth Century." 

They proposed an immediate and complete restoration 
of the Christian religion, as authorized by the Son of 
God, and as taught and practiced by his inspired Apos- 
tles. Their simple but powerful plea, that sounded over 
the land, like a rousing battle cry, was : " The Bible, 
the Bible alone ; and the organic union of all the follow- 
ers of Christ !" They contended that all human creeds 
had proven futile and ruinous. They earnestly protested 
against division, against all uninspired tests of faith and 
fellowship ; against party names and unscriptural titles ; 
in short, against all that the mistaken zeal of men has 
placed about the simple shrine of the Gospel of Jesus. 

Very soon an organization was effected called ''The 
Church of Christ," its members, " Disciples," or 
'* Christians." The growth of this body has been rapid, 
and perhaps, without parallel in church history. To-day 
the Disciples, in the United States, the Canadas, British 
Isles and Australia, number about one million commu- 
nicants. They have a number of handsomely endowed 

(215) 



216 OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE 

and prosperous institutions of learning ; among the most 
noted of which are: Bethany College, West Virginia; 
Kentucky University at Lexington, Butler University at 
Indianapolis, Daughters College of Kentucky, and Chris- 
tian Female College of Missouri. They have more than 
a fuJl supply of papers and periodicals; the most influ- 
ential of which are : The Standard, The Review^ The 
Christian Evangelist and The Christian Quarterly Review. 

Rejecting every creed which had its origin in the mind 
of man, and holding in abeyance their own opinions, the 
Discijjles take the whole Bible — nothing less, and noth- 
ing more, as containing the Christian's creed, the rule of 
practice and the discipline of the church. 

They teach that the acceptance of the Bible alone, as 
an all-sufficient creed, implies : 

1. That we must have a distinct Bible command, or 
an unmistakable Bible example for all that we teach as 
essential to salvation, or to full fellowship in the Church. 

2 We should express Bible truths in Bible words. 

3. We must use Bible words in their Bible sense. 

4. We must remember that the Bible interprets its 
own meaning. 

5. We mu3t hold forth the word of God entire, neither 
adding to it, nor taking from it. 

The Disciples generally claim that the Bible teaches 
the following truths, and consequently hold them essen- 
tial to membership in the Church of Christ : 

1. There is one God and Father of all. 

2. There is one Lord, Jesus the Savior, the Messiah of 
prophecy ; The Son of the living God. 

3. There is one Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, 
and Helper promised to all who obey Christ. 



CHURCH OF CHRIST IN AMERICA. 217 

4. There is one Faith. What that Faith is, we will 
discuss in another chapter. 

5. There is one hope, the hope of the resurrection of 
the dead, to everlasting life. 

6. There is one baptism — burial in and resurrection 
from water. 

The Disciples contend that baptism is a definite spe- 
cific act of obedience, and not a rite of variable form or 
mode. They hope that, since those who sprinkle accept 
immersion also, and those who immerse cannot accept 
sprinkling, love will ultimately lead all to unite for the 
one baptism by immersion. 

7. There is one Body, the Church, the Kingdom, the 
Bride of Christ. The Lord never founded but one church, 
and his Apostles solemnly commanded that there should 
be no divisions. The Disciples see no cause for enthusi- 
astic rejoicing in the pseudo liberality, and boasted 
" spiritual union " so popular in late years, but cause 
for grave apprehension. Of essential truth they can 
make no compromise ; and what is not essential they 
think should be forever put aside. They declare that the 
plainest teaching of the Bible, and the dearest interest 
of humanity demand that all the followers of Christ shall 
stand together in one organic body. 



- SOME CHARACTERISTICS. 

The Disciples hold that ''the Gospel is the power of 
God unto salvation to every one that believeth," hence 
they constantly proclaim that Christ died for our sins, 



218 CHURCH OF CHRIST IN AMERICA. 

according to the Scriptures ; that He was buried ; and 
that He rose again the third day, according to the Scrip- 
tures. They promise in Christ's name, pardon, the Gift 
of the Holy Spirit, and the Hope of everlasting life to 
him that obeys the commands of the Gospel ; and they 
claim that the commands are as follow : 

1. Believe with all the heart. 

2. Repent, and turn away from sin. 

8. Publicly confess Christ, as the Son of the living God. 

4. Be baptized into the name of the Father — the Son 
and the Holy Spirit. 

The Disciples hold that the principles of church 
government are given in the New Testament. Each 
congregation is independent of every other congrega- 
tion while it is a part of the one grand army — all under 
Christ the Head. There is no ecclesiastical court, out- 
side the individual Church. All Christians are royal 
priests to God. 

In the ministry of the church they have Evangelists — 
Elders and Deacons. 

The Disciples celebrate the Lord's supper upon the 
first day of every week, not as an awful sacrament, but 
as a sweet and precious means of grace. 

They insist upon congregational singing as a part of 
public worship. 

They build no magnificent church edifices — rent no 
pews, and solemnly protest against all miserable pomp 
and splendor in the service and appointments of the 
House of God. They are especially noted for their cor- 
dial hospitality to the stranger, their care for the sick, 
the poor and distressed; and their unafi'ected love for one 
another. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



A STUDY OF THE REFORMATION. 

Buildings cannot be beautiful, unless every line and column 
have reference to their foundation, and are suggestive of its 
existence and strength. — Ruskin. 

Since old enough to form any intelligent judgment 
upon subjects of history, I have always cherished a 
delighted admiration for the work and character of Alex- 
ander Campbell, of Virginia ; and I cannot doubt that 
his name will yet be ranked among the most illustrious 
of earth. 

Columbus, holding up the map of a new and beautiful 
land to the astonished gaze of millions, is justly regarded 
a sublime subject for both writer and painter. But, to 
my mind, the theologian in the pulpit at Bethany 
seems a more exalted historical character than the map 
and chart-maker at the court of Isabella. True, the one 
found and made known to the world a new continent ; but 
the other discovered the long-hidden and unknown foun- 
dation of the everlasting Church of Jesus Christ. 

If we are reasonably to regard Luther, Wesley and 
Calvin, as having been fashioned and raised up by Prov- 
idence, each for a great and special work, then we must 
also believe that Alexander Campbell had a most pecu- 
liarly divine mission. Future generations will ;-tu<'y his 

(219) 



220 A STUDY OF THE REFORMATION. 

noble life and rich productions, and will adjudge him to 
have been the grandest theologian of the four great 
reformers. 

At the time of his entrance into the public ministry, 
the whole sky over the minds and hearts of men was 
veiled with clouds of mystic darkness ; superstition and 
tradition had utterly obscured the simple doctrine of 
Christ ; people everywhere were bound with embarrass- 
ing creeds, and ruled by priests who had outrageously 
arrogated to themselves all wisdom and authority to 
interpret the revealed will of God. There was much 
zeal, but that zeal was ignorant, misguided, and of bitter 
fruit. Preachers of all denominations claimed to have 
been divinely called to preach — as were the apostles ; 
and the poor benighted people believed that it required 
miraculous power direct from heaven to convert a sinner. 

It was constantly proclaimed as a cardinal and most 
wholesome doctrine, that God had, before the foundation 
of the world, arbitrarily chosen a few of the human race 
for salvation, and had condemned the great multitudes to 
everlasting torment. It was even an orthodox accom- 
plishment to be able to linger about vivid portrayals of 
" the bloody pavements of hell, all thickly covered with 
the little skulls of nonelect children." The different 
religious denominations fought one another with what 
they imagined a righteous hatred ; and their ministers 
never dreamed of holding sweet fellowship as brothers in 
a common cause. 

In the midst of all this, Alexander Campbell — a man 
of the highest order of mind, of massive and profound 
learning — stood up among the people, and with elo- 
quence often positively sublime, plead for a return to 



A STUDY OF THE REFORMATION. 221 

the Bible, and for the union of all the followers of 
Christ. He waged effective war upon the Romish, and 
all man-made creeds and confessions of faith, and did 
immense work in removing the accumulated traditions 
of ages from the religion of the Son of God. He never 
pretended to possess any superhuman powers, or to have 
received any miraculous inspiration, and only claimed 
to be a discoverer. Hence, his brethren could not be 
called his followers — unless in the meaning that they 
followed him as he led them back to Christ, the sole 
Author and Finisher of their faith. 

His labors tended greatly to disturb and revolutionize, 
then existing religious society. He was not, in the 
strict sense of the word, and in immediate aim, an organ- 
izer ; but for the time being, a disorganizer — only in 
order that right organization might be effected at last. 
He was in his mission not like Moses in delivering the 
Law, but more like Elijah in restoring it, and more like 
John the Baptist in preparing the way for the Truth, 
and in pointing to the Lamb of God ! 

His success could not be measured by any great results 
of a formulating or organizing power. And yet no well 
informed man will pretend that Alexander Campbell 
ever held, or anticipated, any such idea of church disor- 
ganization and ungovernment as has become widely pre- 
valent in recent years. The one thing he fought against 
more strenuously than all else was the division and disor- 
ganization of the followers of Christ. 

His far-reaching plea soon won the zealous advocacy 
of a number of able and devoted men, and spread rapidly 
among the people. That there are to-day in this country 
over a half million of men and women who repudiate all 



222 A STUDY OF THE REFOHMATION. 

human creeds, and hold to the Bible alone as their rule 
of faith and practice, is the crowning result of the 
unparalleled labors of that incomparable man ; and the 
indirect influence of his work has most probably been 
far greater than the direct — for every religious party in 
the land has been more or less afi'ected by his plea and 
teaching. 

The popular plea of the present day for the union of 
all God's people, was taken without due acknowledg- 
ment, and, perhaps, unwittingly from Alexander Camp- 
bell; and it is a great pity that his rational and scrip- 
tural idea of that union was not also appropriated at the 
same time. 

Beyond question, he was the first man in long cen- 
turies who denounced audibly to the world any and all 
divisions of the church as wrong, and contended that 
there was no authority for a variety of creeds in the 
design of Christ and his apostles. He was scorned, 
' hooted, and even persecuted for his teaching then ; but 
the day draws near when the great truth which he advo- 
cated will be recognized and adopted by millions of 
Christian people. 

To his marvelously piercing vision august truths, 
which to others were almost insolvable problems, seemed 
but simple axioms; and at times so great was he in 
thought that he preached over many people's heads — 
they could not understand him ; and they often seized the 
mere shell — the word, but not the spirit of his high 
discourse. 

Probably no man has ever had a more exalted and 
enrapturing conception of Christ ; with all the splendid 



A STUDY OF THE REFORMATION. 223 

powers of his mind, soul and body, he bowed in adoration 
to Him, and ever si)oke of Jesus with joyous yet awful 
reverence. 

No one ever heard him preach, and afterward forgot 
the great thought and lofty eloquence with which he 
discoursed of Messiah — the Prophet, Priest, and King ! 

And the glowing, thrilling peroration, finished with 
the last four verses of Psalm xxiv : 

" Lift up your heads, O ye gates ; and be ye lift up, ye everlast- 
ing doors ; and the King of glory shall come in. 

Who is this King of glory ? The Lord strong and mighty, the 
Lord mighty in battle. 

Lift up your heads, ye gates ; even lift them up, ye everlast- 
ing doors ; and the King of glory shall come in. 

"Who is this King of glory ? The Lord of hosts, he is the King 
of glory." 

for its sublime majesty could hardly be surpassed in 
mortal speech. 

As already remarked, his peculiar work was to remove 
the rank thistles and accumulated rubbish, and to expose 
to view the beautiful and ever-enduring foundation which 
God laid in Zion ; then to urge a complete restoration of 
the teaching and practice of the holy apostles of Christ. 

But, the work of building up and organizing the church, 
of setting all things in order, of leading the saints to 
deeper knowledge and higher life, of filling the world 
with the glad tidings, was left for the most part to those 
who should come after him. 

In numbers, the Disciples have grown to be a mighty 
multitude; whether there has been any very great ad- 
vance of that work since the day of Alexander Camp- 
bell, is a serious and no foolish question. 



224 A STUDY OF THE REFORMATION. 

Have we yet seen rise up a glorious superstructure 
upon that divine foundation — the Rock of Ages — the light 
from whose windows and towers is already gladdening 
all nations ? 

Are we not still delving away, trying to do something 
about the foundation ? And, indeed, are we not in danger 
of becoming monomaniacs on the subject of foundations ? 
It is a grand fact not to be lost sight of, that we have a 
God-given foundation for the Church. But our mission 
is not to keep that foundation in repair, or to sit down 
upon it lest it be carried away or covered up ; nor are 
we called to cry everlastingly to people that they shall 
walk around it and consider its wonderful stones. 

With the Rock and the principles for building given 
us — finished, imperishable and perfect as only the omni- 
potent Author could make them — are we busily engaged 
in building, with gold and silver, and precious stones, 
the great temple for God, and after the Master's faultless 
plan? 

We have many able men, some brave and worthy 
leaders, and an almost innumerable army of disciples -, 
enough to accomplish a tremendous work even in one 
single year. But hitherto, our forces have been so scat- 
tered, our strength so little developed, and our influ- 
ence so thinly diffused, that we are not yet even known 
by name in the civilized world. 

Many of our leaders have acted too much as though 
the all in all of their mission was to fight sectarianism, 
to debate first principles, and to induce men and women 
to join the church. 

They have employed themselves chiefly as recruiting 
officers, enlisting thousands in the church, and then sud- 



A STUDY OF THE REFORMATION. 225 

denly leaving them unfed, unclad, unarmed and un- 
drilled, to struggle along the best they would. And how 
could such recruits, in any cause, prove themselves good 
and faithful soldiers? 

One of our most eminent statesmen has recently de- 
clared that 'Ho claim an army of ten thousand soldiers, 
ought to mean ten thousand strong, brave and well-armed 
men — each one ready to strike a blow for his country." 

And so the claim to number five hundred thousand 
Disciples, ought to mean that we have that number of 
devout followers of Christ, all clad in the armor of God, 
each earnestly doing the utmost for the cause to which 
he vowed his life, and all eagerly working together for 
the one glorious end — the salvation of the world from sin. 

It requires considerable courage to express the de- 
liberate opinion that the somewhat popular practice and 
manner of conducting " protracted meetings" and "re- 
vivals," and thereby crowding the church with converts 
hastily urged and pushed in, is evil, and anti-scriptural. 

Some one points to Pentecost, and the first three 
thousand converts ! But who were they ? Undoubtedly 
the best of the Jewish nation — the most devout nation on 
the earth. 

They were already a people who feared and worshiped 

God, and at that very time had assembled from far and 

near to worship the God of their fathers. Probably they 

were better prepared than most people of this age to 

receive at once the gospel, and to appreciate its holy and 

comprehensive obligations. Men should be intelligently 

converted, thoroughly imbued with the belief that they 

are called to a life of prayer and work — else not be 

enrolled in the church at all. 
15 



226 A STUDY OF THE REFORMATION. 

A preacher's worth may not rightly be estimated by 
the number of people he baptizes, for some of our gre*at- 
est and most useful men have numbered the fewest 
converts. 

One of the most successful revivalists I ever knew, 
was an ignorant man — ignorant even of the Bible. He 
had, however, a powerful and musical voice, and was a 
good actor. He sobbed and wept in the midst of his ser- 
mons, while he told the most harrowing stories of the 
death-bed. It was simply awful to hear him thunder, 
but he fired and moved the people, so that he always 
succeeded in getting up a great meeting. And, alas ! 
when he would go away, the converts generally v/ent, too. 

It m.iy be thoughtfully questioned whether the ignorant 
and sensational rivivalist does more good than harm ; 
nay, it may be doubted whether ignorant and untrained 
men have any right to preach or teach publicly in the 
name of Christ. Do you frown at the word ignorant, and 
in stereotyped speech cite the case of "ignorant fisher- 
men who planted the primitive Church?" Be then re- 
minded that they were far removed from being ignorant. 

In the first place they were chosen on account of their 
peculiar, capable fitness for the work , and then they 
were for nearly three years under the personal instruction 
of the Great Teacher himself. In addition to all this — 
they were divinely inspired to speak. What the whole 
church needs is thorough scriptural organization and 
rigid discipline ; and what the individual member needs, 
is work. The most important problem now for our 
wisest men to solve is, how to put ever}'- man and woman 
cheerfully to work, and how to so distribute and sys- 
tematize the labor as to render it most eff'ective. The 



A STUDY OF THE REFORMATION. 227 

sentiment in the heart and upon the lips of every disciple 
of Jesus should be, '' Wist ye not that I must be about 
my Father's business?" While we are wrapt in self- 
complacency by the mere thought of soundness in the 
faith, thousands of poor, aching, human hearts are dying 
all in the dark, without any knowledge of the joyous 
light and sweetness of that simple faith. While we stand 
the livelong day disputing about plans, and elders, and 
organs, and distracting questions of no vital importance, 
the night is coming swiftly on for us, each one, and what 
account of our work will we carry up yonder ? 

Strange how the doors are opening, though we make 
no effort to unlock them ! Strange news that from over 
the sea ! Those anxious and eloquent appeals for help 
that come from the Brave and lonely strugglers in 
England, France and Germany, are enough to carry wild 
agitation to the soul and to awaken profound sympathy 
in the heart of every true member of the Church of 
Christ. Would that some man might be providentially 
raised up to bring order out of chaos, and make us one 
great, solid, compact body of workers in the Redeemer's 
cause ! I have long desired to submit to the fathers and 
veteran warriors of our Israel a tentative suggestion, and 
humbly crave their consideration. It is this : 

Would it not be well to try and bring about a call for 
a great convention, a convention of Disciples or Chris- 
tians? The plan would be to have, say, fifty of our 
prominent and most loved brethren to sign a call for a 
general convention to assemble at the time and place 
they might designate. Every congregation of Disciples 
on earth should be invited and urged to send one re- 
presentative, that representative to be formally chosen 
only after a week of prayer and earnest deliberation. 



228 A STUDY OF THE REFORMATION. 

The object of the convention would bo in no wise to 
mark out and adopt a creed for the brotherhood, but to 
take sweet counsel together concerning the affairs of 
Messiah's kingdom ; to agree, if possible, upon some 
plan of organization of the general church — according to 
the letter or the spirit of the holy scriptures; to discover 
and discuss our mistakes, and agree to correct them; 
and to insure universal co-operation, more uniformity, 
and greater purity of speech and practice, in the future 
than we have had in the past. 

I can but solemnly believe that the day must come 
when some such purpose will be accomplished, or the 
Disciples remain an anomalous, heterogeneous people, 
and never fulfill the glorious promise of the great re- 
ligious Reformer of the nineteenth century. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



THE FAITH OF THE DISCIPLES. 
{^Associated Press Dispatch.'] 

Washington, D. C, March, 7th, 1881. 
PRESIDENT GARFIELD AT CHURCH. 

" It seemed as if everybody took a sudden interest yesterday 
in the doctrines of the Disciples. 

" Before ten o'clock in the morning crowds of people were 
concentrating in the Christian Church on Vermont avenue, 
where President Garfield worships. The church, with its gal- 
lery and Sunday-school rooms, were speedily filled to overflowing, 
and disappointed thousands were unable to obtain admission. 
The President, Mrs. Garfield, his aged mother and Mrs. Rock- 
well, entered a few minutes before 11 o'clock. The pulpit was 
occupied by the pastor, Rev. Dr. Power, Pres. B. A. Hinsdale, of 
Hiram, Dr. Belding, of New York, Rev. Mr, Tyler, of Richmond, 
Va., Chaplin G. G. Mullins, U. S. A., Officer in special charge of 
Education in the Army, and many other ministers of the deno- 
mination. The simple opening services were conducted by the 
pastor; Pres. Hinsdale oflTered the prayer before the sermon, 
and Chaplain Mullins preached from the third verse of Jude, 
the theme being ' The Faith of the Disciples.' The President 
proved an attentive listener to the sermon, which contained no 
allusion whatever, directly or indirectly, to the inauguration or 
the presence of President Garfield, who sat with his family in 

the old pew always occupied bv him." 

(229) 



230 THE FAITH OF THE DISCIPLES. 

JuDE, 3d. Verse. 

" Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the 
common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and 
exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which 
was once delivered unto the saints." 

Everything has its natural element, its own peculiar 
habitat. The water-lily will not grow in the dry sand of 
the plain, the cactus cannot live in the wet marsh ; and 
it is a vain conceit to suppose that man can truly live 
without religion, or conscious communion with God. 

In the beginning of his " First Principles" Herbert 
Spencer says : '' Religion everywhere present as a woof 
running through the warp of human histor}^, expresses 
some eternal fact," and in my judgment that fact is this, 
man was originally designed for God and immortality ; 
and as a vine will climb through the dark to the light, so 
the spirit of man feels after God — longs for its native at- 
mosphere. By nature the spirit feels itself to be too great 
to be content with anything less than the glory of God 
Hence, man's truest and best life depends upon the re- 
cognition of God as the object of loving, trustful faith. 
Faith is the chief well-spring of human motives, and it 
more than all else, determines the customs and institu- 
tions of a nation. 

A noble faith must be the inspiration and support of 
every noble life ; and there is no such thing as a nation or 
a man becoming great, without some great faith. People 
who have no decided political, moral, or religious con- 
victions are of little account in society ; unstable they 
cannot excel, they are the light chaff driven and swirled 
by every passing breeze. 



THE FAITH OF THE DISCIPLES. 231 

We all need daily to present the prayer "Lord, in- 
crease our faith !" our faith in God, our faith in our- 
selves, and our faith in our fellow men. As Disciples of 
Christ especially do we need faith in our faith ! We need 
to have such a well defined and vivid conception of " the 
most holy faith," that it will stand in our mind with all 
the consummate majesty and glory of the ''pillar of 
cloud by day, and pillar of fire by night." 

Such was the faith that moved, and led, and sustained- 
our fathers fifty years ago, when their simple plea for the 
Bible and the organic union of all God's people, sounded 
over the land like a rousing battle cry. To them " the 
faith" was a novelty, a new discovery, a soul-thrilling, 
life-controlling, wondrous vital truth, and no wonder 
that their ardent zeal succeeded in enlisting men and 
women so rapidly through the years, that the ''Disciples" 
now number an army of nearly one million adiilt com- 
municants. The marvel is, that the plea so simple, so 
manifestly reasonable, and in itself so powerful has not 
moved on to the conquest, even of the whole religious 
world. 

There is a wide difference between an adopted faith and 
an inherited faith ; the one examined, studied, learned, 
and through tears thoughtfully embraced ; the other 
came it is not known or felt how, from unquestioned 
authority, example or inheritance, and accepted as a 
sort of inevitable something, which has long been so 
familiar as to be almost beyond any thoughtful consider- 
ation. Like many common things, like the semi-sacred 
but old and faded pictures on our walls, it is rarely given 
more than a passing glance. This mere lazy assent or 
indifferent acceptance is a weak, pitiful, sickly thing and 



232 THE FAITH OF THE DISCIPLES. 

has nothing in common with that strong angel of life, 
bright and beautiful faith which works ever — works by 
love, blessing mankind and honoring God ! 

The word faith is used in the scriptures in two ways, 
subjectively and objectively. In the subjective sense it 
denotes simply the action or condition of the mind in 
which the mind consents to some proposition as true ; in 
which something is accepted as established by evidence. 
It is the action of the mind wherein things supersensible, 
that is beyond the reach of direct and absolute knowl- 
edge, are received as true. 

Paul, in his admirable description of faith, subjec- 
tively considered, characterizes it as "a sure confidence 
with respect to things hoped for ; a firm persuasion with 
respect to things not seen." 

Therefore, faith may be said to look both backward 
and forward, both to the past and to the future. It is 
the telescope by which the spirit gazes through the en- 
shrouding blackness of cycled periods, now, to the sub- 
lime beginning, then, to the glorious ending of time — 
out into the eternal — catching glimpses of the King in 
his beauty, and of the blazing windows and the white 
pillars and spires of the House with many mansions. 

However, strictly speaking, the looking to the future 
is the confidence of hope — the beautiful offspring of faith. 
Faith by necessity of its nature is based on facts, and 
facts are things of the past ; hence, faith always has in 
some way relation to the past, and is historical. But, 
insomuch as facts reveal truths and principles, faith 
lays hold on an imperishable present, on the eternal 
spiritual things that are and ever must be, and is then 
prophetic. 



THE FAITH OF THE DISCIPLES. 233 

Now, man is so constituted that he is not dependent 
upon the fiv'e senses ; the highest and the lowest of 
humanity live by faith, and it may be truthfully said 
of all 

" We walk by faith and not by sight." 

It is as much a necessity of man's nature to believe as 
it is for him to breathe or to love. No child is born with 
a faculty disposed to unbelief, — that comes by perver- 
sion. Your baby girl has such a prepossession of the 
idea of the truthfulness of all things, that to her the nur- 
sery tales of '' Red Riding Hood " and of " Beauty and 
the Beast," are no idle fictions, but veritable histories. 

As yet there is not the shadow of a doubt or suspicion 
to cloud her sky, or dim her clear-eyed faith. Perhaps, 
it was in lx)ving recognition of this glory of childhood, 
the Savior said : " Except ye be converted and become 
as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of 
heaven!" 

With what anxious jealousy, what sacred awe should 
parents guard the faith of infancy ! It is your child's 
holiest and most precious endowment — take care how 
you abuse it ; how by wilful deception or carelessness 
you allow this great faculty of the soul to become im- 
paired ! Suspicion and doubt were the Serpent's fangs 
in Eden — they hissingly drove the first pair forth from 
the garden ; and the day in which you allow them to 
sting your child, shall be a dark day, a day of calamity. 
Henceforth, with beauty and innocence soiled — the 
world, life, all things shall be changed — and peace, like 
a frightened bird shall be flown far away. Then, 



234 THE FAITH OF THE DISCIPLES. 

"Nor poppy, nor mandragora, 
Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world, 
Shall ever medicine her to that sweet sleep 
Which the child had yesterday." 

That theory of faith, religiously considered, which 
makes it something awfully mysterious, something sup- 
ernatural — a gift or an effect wrought in the mind by the 
direct instrumentality of the Holy Spirit, we think is 
both unphilosophical and anti-scriptural. 

There is no difference between the faculty of mind 
that believes a sacred truth and that believes a profane 
or secular truth. The faculty is one and identical; the 
difference is in the things believed. The hand is an 
instrument capable of holding many and varied objects ; 
capable of becoming through exercise ever the more 
skilled and powerful. It may toy with a feather, or 
wield a sledge hammer ; may grasp a wreath of sweet 
flowers, or the coil of a deadly viper ; and so faith may 
cling to a baneful falsehood, or lay hold upon the prom- 
ise of everlasting life. 

We conclude then, that the faculty of belief, or the 
power to receive as true things beyond the province of 
positive knowledge, is the common heritage of our race. 

In our text, Jude did not use faith in this subjective 
sense, but in the objective meaning of the word ; that is 
to denote the matter of faith, the thing believed, the 
truth. 

Henceforth we use the word to designate that some- 
thing which 'we hold as the summary of all sacred belief, 
the one all comprehensive, but pliant and precise Chris- 
tian creed; the only creed that came from God; the 
only creed broad enough, and strong enough, and grand 



THE FAITH OF THE DISCIPLES. 235 

enough for all the church of Christ on earth and in 
heaven ! 

Just at this point it will be well for us to consider the 
positive and unqualified declaration of the great Apostle : 

THERE IS ONE FAITH. 

This is in itself a book, a condensed but significant 
treatise on our subject, and it has many a page still un- 
read even by the religious world. 

The doctrines of the Christian religion are not chaotic 
or ambiguous ; they are not self-contradictory, but they 
do constitute one grand logic, a profound science, a splen- 
did system. 

There is one plan of saving men from sin and sorrow, 
from the fear of death, and from death, and so far as we 
know, only one plan in the universe. It is called " God's 
eternal purpose," eternal because formed in the infinite 
mind before time began, and compassing an endless ex- 
istence ever yet to come. That plan is a unit, a fin- 
ished and consistent whole. To think otherwise would 
be inconsistent with any exalted conception of Deity. If 
we have this plan at all, it surely is unfolded in the open 
Bible, and if not in the Bible, it is then nowhere. 

The avowed intention of the Bible is to reveal God 
and his purpose to man ; and it is to produce faith. As 
we have already seen the subject matter of faith must be 
the truth. Now, God is the author of all truth, and 
truth is always wrapped in unity. *' God is not the 
author of confusion, but of peace," and there is no peace 
without unity. 



236 THE FAITH OF THE DISCIPLES. 

To this general proposition there is no exception or 
real contradiction in all God's works and government. 
You may examine the two great volumes, Nature and 
the Bible, and in both you will discover that same sys- 
tem and unity in variety so characteristic of the manifes- 
tations of the Supreme Intelligence. The truth is every- 
where consistent ; there is no conflict and no confusion. 
True, the history of science does seem to indicate a chaos 
of uncertainty, and to present a baffling maze of confu- 
sion. But this is not real, it is only apparent. 

The strife and contradiction are and have been owing 
to the ignorance and rash haste of men. 

" To him alone who hears the entire voice 
Of Nature, is her voice a harmony." 

The ultimate conclusion, the end of all patient and 
thorough investigation must be a demonstration of the 
fixed and invariable unity and harmony of all truth. 

The tendency of the most learned research in our day, 
is to affirm the unity of the sciences ; that is, to conclude 
that there is one great science, the principles of which 
cover and bind together all the different departments of 
knowledge. 

When the old Latins coined the expressive. word ''uni- 
verse, " turned into one ; and the Greeks, ''To Pan," all 
things viewed as one whole, they inA^ented far more wisely 
than they knew great words of prophetic revelation. 

For a long time it was accepted as an indisputable 
fact that there could be such things as diversity of Chris- 
tian belief, as various distinct, and sometimes even con- 
tradictory systems of Christian faith. And some men 



THE FAITH OF THE DISCIPLES. 237 

piously discerned in this conceit, but another evidence of 
the wisdom and goodness of God in thus adapting relig- 
ion to the diverse natures of human minds. 

The professedly Christian world is now divided up 
into nearly two hundred different sects, each claiming to 
be the true church, and each contending for its own 
peculiar system of faith as of divine origin. 

That there is some truth in each theory or system 
cannot be denied ; and possibly each may have amid all 
the encumbering rubbish — the precious corner stone 
which was rejected, or overlooked by the builders — the 
essential vital truth ! But, there is no authority for 
calling any of their theories and traditions or all of them 
taken together the Christian faith. 

There is one faith; no more, and the Bible refuses to 
give a moment's recognition to the assumption that 
there may be divisions, branches or varieties of the faith 
revealed from heaven. To thoughtful minds, the very 
claim that our faith came from God must be the postu- 
late of its singleness, its invariable and indivisible unity. 

The faith is fixed, finished and unchangeable. 

Jude speaks of it as '' the faith once delivered to the 
saints," and the full force of the peculiar Greek adverb 
here translated " once," is, — once for all. 

It was not a tentative remedy or expedient that might 
at some future time be recalled, amended or supplanted. 
As the superlative miracle of Almighty God, it was to 
stand, not to be altered, not to be added to or taken 
from ; as one perfect whole, perfectly adapted to its 
gracious end, it was once for all delivered to the saints. 
In speaking of it as the foundation upon which he would 
build the Church, Jesus declared, ''the gates of hell 



238 THE FAITH OF THE DISCIPLES. 

shall not prevail against it !" And when the Redeemer 
hung dying on the cross, it was concerning this that he 
made that last joyous triumphant cry — " It is finished!" 

What a world then, of impressive meaning is there in 
the expression of Paul, ''Looking unto Jesus, the author 
and finisher of our faith." The human mind had noth- 
ing to do with it, it originated with God. Christ was the 
author, and Christ finished it once for all and forever, 
and placed his own crimson seal upon it, when he died 
on Calvary. 

There was no more sublime audacity and folly in 
Satan measuring arms against the Almighty, than there 
is in the presumption of the mortal man who imagines 
that he can make a creed for the soul ; or that he can in 
any way improve, or render more effective that " prec- 
ious faith" which the Prince of Peace finished, and 
through his apostles once for all delivered to the saints. 

Pardon me Beloved, for reminding you that this abso- 
lute perfection and fixedness of the faith itself, is alto- 
gether a different thing from perfection and fixedness of 
knowledge of the faith. 

There is a distinction here worthy the most serious 
attention. There is a large class of people sufficiently 
fixed in their religious knowledge to satisfy the demands 
of the most halting conservatism, or even of the most 
ignorant and hardened superstition. 

Indeed, too many are prone to the notion, a sort of 
Gothic consolation ! either that there is nothing to be 
learned, or that our knowledge of the faith can readily 
be made complete, infallible, changeless. They talk 
and act as though the whole subject in all its bights. 



THE FAITH OF THE DISCIPLES 239 

depths, and immeasurable recesses could be fully ex- 
plored in a week or month. This is a fearful evil. 

Our powers here are all at greatest and best, but finite 
and fallible ; our knowledge is consequently limited, 
variable and progressive, but the truth itself is infinite, 
inexhaustible and eternal. 

" All knowledge 
That the sons of men 
Shall gather in the cycled times," 

will not lead them to touch any limit to the boundless 
realm of truth as it is in Jesus. 

As were our fathers and mothers in the reformation, 
so we should be the most humble and diligent students 
of the Word, thoroughly loyal to the truth, ever eager 
to find and to adopt it ; ever learning more and more, 
" till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the 
knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto 
the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." 

What is the faith? Since God is the author of the 
faith, and inasmuch as it is designed for the whole race, 
we would reasonably suppose that the proposition to be 
believed in order to salvation must be brief and simple. 
Comparatively few people of earth are learned ; and few 
are capable of comprehending any abstruse proposition ; 
therefore knowledge intended for the masses must be 
expressed in plain and direct speech. Our Heavenly 
Father, who knoweth what is in man ; who in boundless 
love would bless and help and save all men, has adapted 
his revelation, as God alone could, to the human under- 
standing. It may over fill and dazzle the wondering 
visions of the loftiest intellect; and yet a little child may 
grasp it as his lamp to find the way home to heaven ! 



240 THE FAITH OF THE DISCIPLES. 

To John the Baptist in prison, Jesus could send no 
more reassuring message, in proof that the Messiah of 
promise had actually come, than this, ''the poor have 
the Gospel preached to them." What' then, we ask, is 
the one simple, distinct proposition for universal belief? 
Beyond a doubt, it is the God revealed truth which 
Simon Peter first confessed ; Jesus is the Christ, the son of 
the living God, 

The whole Bible may be regarded as a commentary on 
this single proposition ; hence said Jesus to the Jews : 
'' Search the scriptures ; for in them you think you have 
eternal life, and they are they that testify of me !" 

Our faith, then, thanks be to God ! has nothing to do 
with speculative philosophy, with theories about the 
'' God-head," " the Trinity," " coeternal sonship " in- 
spiration, atonement, eternal punishment, or the origin 
of evil. Our faith has nothing to do with ceremonies 
and rituals ; with formulated creed ; or the many vexed 
questions of expediency. It has to do with something 
infinitely higher than all this ! The object of our faith 
is the acceptance of a righteous and mighty and glorious 
person, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, the perfect 
manifestation of the divine wisdom and power and 
mercy — the fullness of him that filleth all in all. Our 
faith is to lead us to trust, love and obey the Annointed 
Son as Prophet, Priest and King over all men. 

" In such expressions as Looking unto Jesus, who is the 
author and the finisher of our faith, we are bidden to look 
from our faith to a living person who is the only root of 
it, the only end of it. Our faith is not in itself, but in 
him; and if we think of it, instead of him, it perishes. 
Here it ought to be full enough to quote two familiar 



THE FAITH OF THE DISCIPLES. 241 

passages of Scripture : ''And many other signs truly 
did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not 
written in this book ; but these are written that ye might 
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that 
believing ye might have life through his name." " The 
word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart ; 
that is, the word of faith which we preach, that if thou 
shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, and shalt 
believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the 
dead, thou shalt be saved !" Then, to believe lovingly 
in the Messiah, of whom Moses and the prophets did 
write, is the all in all of the Christian faith ; and its full 
thesis is enveloped in that one divinely authorized con- 
fession of faith ; Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living 
God. Those who object that such a creed is too liberal, 
not sufficiently definite and exclusive, should be directed 
to carry their complaints up to the throne of the allwise 
Author himself. We are not called upon to vindicate 
the Master's ways, or to enter any apology for his plans 
and appointments. 

However, of this be reminded, the most elaborate 
creeds have failed in their design to insure the trath 
against perversion. They have resulted in division, 
confusion, envy, bitterness and strife. From them as a 
fruitful soil have sprung up a dense and rank growth of 
plants, whose blossoms are black, and whose breath is 
poison. 

Shackling creeds have miserably crippled and im- 
peded the army of Christ, and greatly diverted it from 
its one glorious mission in the world. The church every- 
where begins to feel this, and many leading men in the 

different religious denominations frankly acknowledge it. 
16 



242 THE FAITH OF THE DISCIPLES. 

I believe -that the day is coming when the followers of 
Christ everywhere will look upon man-made creeds and 
confessions of faith, as vain, intrusive and presumptuous 
attempts to strengthen that which God has made strong; 
when they will recognize the fact that the safety of the' 
Rock of Ages depends not upon the stay and support of 
puny human hands ; when the loyal and devoted hosts 
of Immanuel, animated by the inspiration of his word" 
and life and spirit, shall move forward to the vanquish- 
ment of ignorance, falsehood and sin, and to the estab- 
lishment of peace and righteousness on the earth. And 
may God speed the coming of that day ! 

With intensest feeling, I would protest to-day against 
the merely defensive attitude of the church. Ten thous- 
and thousand considerations loudly demand that she 
should assume the aggressive part against infidelity and 
sin ; and should fly only the white-starred guidon of the 
church militant. Casting fear and doubt forever behind 
us, let us march forward and contend earnestly for the 
faith once for all delivered to the saints, looking trust- 
fully to him who came not to send peace, but a sword on 
the earth ; and who will at last conquer for us an ever- 
lasting peace. 

I like not that song now so popular throughout the 
land, — 

** Hold the fort, for I am coming, 
Jesus signals still." 

The Lord Jesus as the Great Commander is already 
here — the battle is on ! — in no pent-up fort in a misera- 
ble state of passive siege — but out in the vast field of the 



THE FAITH OF THE DISCIPLES. 243 

world; and it would be better for the soldiers of the 
Cross to shout in martial music that braver hymn, — 

" Lo ! the day of God is breaking ; 
See the gleaming from afar ! 
Sons of earth from slumber waking, 
Hail the brighi and morning Star. 

" Trust in Him who is your Captain ; 
Let no heart in terror quail ; 
Jesus leads the gath'ring legions, 
In His name we shall prevail. 

" Conq'ring hosts with banners waving, 
Sweeping on o'er hill and plain, 
Ne'er shall halt till swells the anthem, 
' Christ o'er all the earth doth reign ! ' " 

Perhaps, there never was another period when there 
were so many myriad exciting temporal concerns as now 
to divert and occupy the mind ; when there were so 
many heart storming temptations ; when sin was more 
illusively masked in the beautiful garments stolen from 
innocence ; and when godlessness had so many eloquent 
advocates in the world. Surely, there was never a time 
when infidelity with more hate and power and persist- 
ence endeavored to undermine the very foundation of 
the church. But, for one, I feel no alarm ! God is ! 
He reigns, and His throne could fall, just so soon as the 
work of the Redeemer ! We have the divine promises, 
that even the power of hell shall not prevail against the 
Rock to "which we look for safety. While still among 
men, Jesus said on one occasion, " And I, if I be lifted 
up, will draw all men unto me." He is being lifted up. 
There is now more power in his name than in the flag of 



244 " THE FAITH OF THE DISCIPLES. 

any nation ; and the world is beginning to see and feel 
that there is no other power whereby man maybe saved. 
That his power may rest upon us and be the ennobling 
might of our lives, let us try ever to draw still nearer to 
him, to learn to know more of him, to love him better, 
and to do more good in his precious name. Thus shall 
we prove ourselves in truth and deed the Disciples of 
Him who came to seek and to save to the uttermost all 
who would believe in Him. Then can we confidently 
look forward to that day when he will confess us before 
the Father in Heaven. 

And now, brethren, in conclusion, looking forward to 
'' that great day," think for a moment, with what sur- 
passing dignity and importance is our confession of faith 
invested, when we begin to catch somewhat of the august 
meaning of the inspired declaration : — 

'^ Wherefore, God also hath highly exaltedhim, and given 
him a name which is above every name ; that at the name of 
Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, and things 
in earth, and things under the earth ; and that every tongue 
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God 
the Father!'' 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



THE PASTOR. 

"And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, who 
shall feed you with knowledge and understanding." — Jeremiah. 

" When one that holds communion with the skies, 
Has filled his urn where those pure waters rise, 
And once more mingles with us meaner things, 
'Tis e'en as if an angel shook his wings : 
Immortal fragrance fills his circuit wide, 
That tells us whence his treasures are supplied." 



Among the most exquisite and picturesque words of 
the English tongue we find the word, ''pastor." 

In some minds there is strong prejudice against its use, 
as it is thought to smack too much of priestcraft and papal 
tyranny. But it is, nevertheless, a tender and beautiful 
word, fitly designating a scriptural — Whence holy office. 
And the fact that in times gone by, abominations were 
cloaked under this sacred title, is a poor argument for its 
desuetude. 

That fastidious eclecticism which would reject all 
words that have ever been devoted to evil, or have been 
found at any time in bad company, would sadly im- 
poverish our language. 

We must accord to words, as well as to men, the pri- 
vilege of repentance. They are not mummies to be for- 
ever coffined with the dead past; but are living and 

(245) 



246 THE PASTOR. 

versatile freighters that may carry at different times 
various things. Indeed, they are ever changing their 
function ; and are often employed in one .generation to 
convey ideas the very opposite to what they expressed 
in ages previous. 

The literal meaning of the word pastor, and it is the 
precise equivalent of the words so translated from the 
Latin, Greek and Hebrew — is shepherd. 

We learn from world wide custom that the shepherd is 
one whose office it is, 

1. To feed sheep ; 

2. To keep the flock together ; 

3. To protect it from all enemies. 

From this simple and comprehensive statement of his 
duties, it is evident that the shepherd's work must nec- 
essarily be a confining if not an altogether monopolizing 
employment. It is about impossible for him ever to 
engage in any other business, for he must be always 
watching over his dependent flock. 

Nor is the occupation of the shepherd so easy and 
simple as those unacquainted with the interesting facts 
are apt to suppose. It demands great self-denial, patient 
devotion, shrewd judgment and sometimes the most 
daring courage. 

Thousands of years ago the word pastor or shepherd 
was employed as the metaphorical name of the religious 
leader. And this ancient usage of the word is divinely 
approved by its adoption in both the Old and the New 
Testament. — 

It may not rightly be regarded so much a title of the 
minister of religion, as a vivid description of his office — 
a one word account of his peculiar calling and duty. 



THE PASTOR. 247 

We are then, to collect the clearest and best concep- 
tion of the pastor's mission, by studying the avo- 
cation of the shepherd. From that and the Bible, we 
learn that he is a herdsman and feeder; one called to 
teach, cherish and guide a flock of God's people. And 
in importance, his is the highest and grandest work on 
the earth. 

Since the great flock is divided into unnumbered small 
bands, and all can never be gathered into one visible fold 
in this world, of course there must be many pastors, all 
under Christ, the great and good Shepherd. Whether 
there should be a plurality of pastors over one flock or 
assembly, I believe to depend solely upon the number 
of members and the amount of work to be done. 

Over every church — experience, common sense, and 
the holy Scriptures undoubtedly teach that there should 
at least be one pastor. And he should be no mere nominal 
officer vainly occupying a sinecure position. Having 
first been found of worthy character, scripturally quali- 
fied ; and having been elected by the assembly, he should 
be formally and solemnly ordained pastor of the flock. 

He ought then to give his whole time and the strength 
of his being to the great purpose appointed. 

It has been agreed by men most distinguished for 
learning, that in the primitive church, the teachers and 
rulers were called Presbyters or Elders, Bishops or Over- 
seers, Pastors or Shepherds ; titles which in the New 
Testament are all applied to one and the same order of 
men. Their functions are the same, and the apostle 
Paul recognizes no difl'erence in the essential qualifica- 
tions for the oflice. Vide Acts xx : 17, 28 ; Phil, i : 1 ; 
Titus ii : 5 ; I Tim. iii : 2 ; I Peter v : 1. 



248 THE PASTOR. 

Some churches object to calling an}^ one '' The Pastor," 
claiming that it is too much like making a pope and does 
entrust too much power and authority to one man. Fur- 
thermore, they assert that the practice is unscriptural. 

Let us carefully consider whether this claim and appre- 
hension be well founded. 

In the first place, we must bear in mind, that neither 
one man nor a thousand men can ever have authority to 
legislate for the church ; and the church itself is denied 
all power and right to prescribe any other doctrines than 
those originally given by Christ and his apostles. 

This is too evident to admit the least dispute. To 
determine the external form and manner of church 
government, to act in matters of expediency, to decide 
upon anything of importance, neither has one pastor, nor 
six any jurisdiction without the consenting church. 

Says Dr. Mosheim in his noble work on Ecclesiastical 
History, — "Such was the constitution of the Christian 
church in its infancy, that the churches were independent 
with respect to each other. Each Christian assembly was 
a little State,, governed by its own laws, which were 
either enacted, or at least approved by the society. 
Every church consisted of the people, their leaders 
and the Deacons. The people were undoubtedly in 
authority ; for the apostles showed by their own example, 
that nothing of moment was to be carried on, or deter- 
mined, without the consent of the assembly. Vide Acts 
1 : 15, vi : 3, xv : 4, xx : 22." 

The sense of this sovereignty of the people is so inbred 
and so strong in the Disciples, that among them, as in 
the United States Government, instead of there being 
reasonable ground for any apprehension of a centrali- 



THE PASTOH. 249 

zation of power, there is considerable cause to dread 
anarchy in the future, on account of too much individual 
freedom and power, together with a growing hatred to 
wholesome restraint. 

Hence, it is often a very difficult task to persuade even 
the sovereign church to exercise that control over its 
members which the Scriptures clearly authorize and 
demand. When learning was mostly confined to the 
clergy ; when there was no free press ] when Rome 
through her crafty priests governed both church and 
State, the priest could and did arrogate fearful powers. 
But now, and in this protestant nation, it is simply im- 
possible for pastors to usurp authority, or infringe upon 
the well-known prerogative of the church. 

As to the teaching of the Scriptures in regard to the 
number of pastors and deacons, Christ and his apostles 
have not commanded anything expressly concerning it. 
Indeed, it appears that Christ left this matter undeter- 
mined, as though he intended that the individual church 
should have discretionary power to act as circumstances 
might require. 

Six Disciples may become a regularly organized church ; 
but they would hardly have the material and inclination 
to ordain themselves three elders and three deacons. 

A church of one thousand members would be vastly too 
large a flock for one shepherd; and the Lord has left it to 
the wisdom and prudence of each congregation to decide 
for itself what number may be necessary for the work. 

In the discussion of this subject there is an additional 
point which it would be well not to ignore. Merely 
having a plurality of elders will never preclude what is 
called — "the dangerous one man rule." 



250 THE PASTOR. 

In every congregation whether there be one, or few, or 
many rulers, some one, by his ability and works will, 
soon or late, actually exercise the dominant influence, 
will become, although unrecognized as such, in fact the 
leader. In any assemblage whatever of men, one will be 
chief ! 

Some time ago I happened to be in a city, where there 
was a church that did not believe in having a pastor, but 
had four leaders, whom they called bishops. I took the 
opportunity to attend their meeting, and become some- 
what acquainted with their peculiarities. One bishop 
was a lawyer and ward politician, one was a blacksmith, 
and two were merchants. 

They seemed to abhor the word pastor, and classed it in 
the triad with priest and devil. AVith sourness and hate 
they denounced ''the hireling clergy," and boasted that 
they had no ruler under Christ; and that they believed 
it a sin to receive or pay money to have the Gospel 
preached. Well, they were a shining set of folks ! 
During a period of thirty years they had grown in num- 
ber to be seventy-five men, women and children — all 
told. They had made no impression upon the city, for 
they had been as barren of good works as thorns of grapes: 
they were a genuine thistle crop. 

The first discourse to which I listened was unin- 
structive, full of errors and bad grammar, and was one 
hour and twenty minutes in length. It was on the Mil- 
lennium, and by the lawyer bishop ; who alas ! had no 
sooner sat down than up popped the blacksmith bishop. 
He began by remarking with singular grace and gentle- 
ness, that it gave him deep pain to say to the brethren, 
there was not one grain of Bible truth in the sermon to 



THE PASTOR. 251 

which they had just listened, and he felt in duty bound 
to show them the real teaching of the "Sperrit" on the 
subject. After speaking thirty minutes in a thundering 
voice the old gentleman got out of breath, and with a 
rueful countenance sat down. 

Then bishop No. 3 proceeded to administer the Lord's 
Supper, and while the emblems were being passed 
around, he seized the opportune moments to give two or 
three young people present a sound drubbing (figur- 
atively — yet really) for having gone to a dance the week 
before. 

At last bishop No. 4 arose to wind up or out the meet- 
ing ; he sang a solo hymn, and dismissed the congrega- 
tion with prayer, in which he reviewed and sharply criti- 
cised all that had been said by his co-laborers that day. 

A little attentive inquiry soon discovered that they 
were a most bigoted and uncharitable people, and greatly 
addicted to absurd and ruinous controversy among them- 
selves: that each bishop had some hobby which he 
mounted every possible chance. In proper sense there 
was really no shepherd at all over the flock ; but what 
was very queer in view of their boasted pretensions, the 
lawyer bishop might have been properly styled, the 
despot. He was politic in manner, had an iron will, a 
passion for rule, and succeeded in having his own way 
about everything in the church ; and the blacksmith 
bishop who was exeedingly jealous of his power, did not 
hesitate to declare him unsound in the faith ! 

I have in my time visited a number of churches, where 
the province of the Elders appeared to be that of a sort 
of high court, or Star Chamber in the church. As rare 
occasion demanded they met to attend to matters of dis- 



252 THE PASTOR. 

cipline, and urgent business. During the week they 
never looked after the flock, or toiled in any way for the 
good of the individual members. On Sunday when the 
preacher had ended his sermon, these elders would 
punctiliously march forward to administer the sacred 
Supper ; and sometimes, in their manners, speeches and 
prayers, what 

" An unhallowed conjunction of divine with human matters !" 

Could any one show cause why the elders wish always 
to administer the institution of the Lord's Supper, and 
never or rarely the ordinance of Baptism ! 

If an elder through ardent zeal, prayer and meditation, 
have an holy unction, and if he have riches of truth to 
give as bread to hungry souls, then he ought to speak. 
But he can never have any semblance of right to bore a 
congregation with out-of-place talk, which cost him no 
stud}', no prayer, no tears — simply because he is in the 
position of an elder and loves to speak in public. 

In short, if a church have one pastor or five, each 
should be such in fact, and fashioned as nearly as pos- 
sible after the pattern given in the Living Oracles. 

•X* •4:' •Xf *i^ *4f *^ >V ^I^ *^ 

*^ *f* *j* *Y* 'T* *•* *T* *T* *T* 

From the very nature of his office we rationally con- 
clude that the pastor should, as a rule, be elected for a 
long period, if not for life. The very common custom of 
annual elections and frequent changes cannot be com- 
mended by sound judgment. 

The work which the pastor is called to do ; the absolute 
necessity that he shall know, and learn to sympathize 



THE PASTOB. 253 

with every member of the flock ; that he may be one in 
love and interest with all ; and may freely go in and out 
among the people, to recall the wandering to the paths 
of virtue and piety, instruct the ignorant, comfort and 
cheer on the troubled, and hold Christ's glorious light at 
the bedside of the dying — all, everything demands that 
he should be permanently located. 

Few churches appeciate as they should the truth, that 
the pastor is one, whom a wise economy, in the distribu- 
tion and saving of labor, has appointed to do a certain 
work, which belongs to all the members in common ; in 
the burden of his solemn obligations, they each have a 
share ; and that in order to accomplish any considerable 
amount of good, he should be removed as far as may be 
from corrosive worldly cares. If he gives his whole time, 
and devotes himself fully and conscientiously to the up- 
building of the church, then it is the sacred and impera- 
tive duty of the church to see that he is paid a liberal 
support, or at least enough to save him from distraction 
and beggary. To leave him ever in poverty is virtually 
to confess to God, and to proclaim to the world — that his 
mission is after all in the estimation even of professed 
Christians, of minor — if indeed of any real importance. 

Among sentimental and self-plumed angels, it maybe a 
mark of seraphic piety to think of preaching, and labor- 
ing in the gospel without money and without price ! 
But, it is none the less a sad and withering comment 
upon the spiritual life of any church, to allow her faith- 
ful minister to be pinched and dogged, and bitten by 
deathful penury. 



254 THE PASTOR. 

It is only the ignorant plea of clutching selfishness, 
which would permit a faithful minister to grow old in 
toiling for the highest good of others, and yet so unre- 
quited as to be left too poor to own the humblest cottage, 
in which to shelter his sacrificed family, and in which — 
at last worn out, to lay himself down and die. 

vL* "A» *!-• *1^ *!* *lr 

^Y* ^T* *T* *T* *t* ^* 

There is in our country a curious popular notion of 
pastoral duty, productive of harm and not good, which 
ought to be condemned and abandoned as altogether 
unreasonable. It is that which requires the pastor to 
spend most of his time tramping from house to house, 
paying a sort of complimentary visit to the members of 
his flock. That you may the better catch my meaning, 
let us look at a picture ; and it is not supp'osititious, but 
genuine. 

Early Monday morning Elder A. starts out on a tour 
of pastoral visitation. He trudges up one street and 
down another, religiously compelling himself to call at 
every residence laid down in his directory. Some people 
are not at home, but for each one he leaves his card, 
that the visit may count ; some are at home, but ask 
that they be excused to-day, and that he will call again. 
At twenty difi'erent places he ])asses through the same 
stereotyped routine ; must listen to pretty much the same 
small talk, and has his attention called to the same 
novel observation that " there is a great deal of weather 
for this time of the year." 

When he arrives ai the cottage of Mrs. Persimmons, 
her '' man" is away at the factory, and she is hard at 
work over the steaming wash-tub ; but she offers the 
pastor a chair, and, with arms dripping suds and tongue 



THE PASTOE. 255 

bitterness, this gentle lady entertains him with queru- 
lous complaints against himself and everybody else for 
not coming to see her, and triumphantly announces : 
'* That's why me and my man has quit coming to your 
stuck-up church ! ' ' 

Having finished the two dozen visits which he must 
pay daily in order to make the required round, the pas- 
tor is at home again. The day is nearly gone ; his legs, 
head and heart are tired, but he must now go to his 
study (his wife's parlor) and address himself to his 
studies and sermons. Reflecting upon the unsatisfactory 
day, upon the foolish but exacting custom which is 
frittering away his time and strength, he significantly 
repeats : 

" Defend me, therefore, common sense, say I, 

from the toil 

Of dropping buckets into empty wells. 
And growing old in drawing nothing up !" 

But suddenly the door-bell rings, and in walks Deacon 
Hairsplitter, who says that, as he had nothing else to do, 
he concluded to come around and have a little argument 
with the pastor about the last sermon, in which he 
allowed the unbaptized sinner the right to pray. Soon 
the bell rings again, and Mrs. Tomtit is ushered in. She 
comes unexpectedly to spend the evening with Mrs. 
Pastor, and brings along the baby and her big boy who 
has the whooping-cough. As the pastor keeps open 
house, and his wife can work miracles, all of course do 
him the kindness to remain to dinner. At last, .when 
the poor, worried man pillows his head to sleep, he 



256 THE PASTOR. 

sighs, and regretfully murmurs : Another day forever 
gone — ^Yasted — lost ! 

Dear friends, this is no extreme case, colored and 
fringed by fancy ; but is a true picture of common and 
abominable practice. You can seldom find an experi- 
enced pastor who may not justly exclaim : 

*' Quaeque ipse miserimus vidi, 
Et quorum pars magna fui !" 

Now, I would assume the position, and stoutly hold 
it against all assailants, that whenever the pastor goes 
out on the round of pastoral visitation, he should only 
go in his sacredly official capacity, and always first to 
those who most need his care. Never should he go out 
from a home without leaving upon the family some happy 
though serious impression that the minister of God's 
Holy Word had been there that day. 

Socially, as a man among men, unquestionably he has 
the right in fee simple to make his visits as free, un- 
bought and unforced as the coming and going of the 
beautiful sunshine. He should stubbornly decline to 
yield to unreasonable demands upon his time ; or to con- 
tribute by his forbearance, or his visits to the idle and 
inconsiderate vanity of any in the flock. He owes it to 
himself, to the people, and to his sublime profession, to 
insist upon and command the privilege of spending much 
of his time in uninterrupted study, meditation and 
prayer. One of the brilliant masters in English litera- 
ture, De Quincy, says : "No man will ever unfold the 
capacities of his own intellect, who does not at least 
checker his life with solitude. As a general rule — How 
much solitude, so much power." 



THE PASTOR. 257 

And surely no pastor can ever become clothed with 
the sweet and helpful influences of the Christian religion, 
or ever possess that mental and spiritual might wiaich 
must be the credential of him that 

" * * * trains, 
By every rule of discipline, to gloriouo r«^ar 
The sacramental hosts of God's elect," 

who is not much alone, all alone with himself, with his 
books, and his God I 
17 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE LORD'S SUPPER. 
' This do in remembrance of me." — Luke xxii : 19. 

" Jesus Christ instituted very little ; he inspired 
much." So says that gifted and noble writer, Alexander 
Vinet ; and it is true ; for while Christ inspired the 
thought and feeling which should lift the world out of 
darkness into marvelous light; yet, of formal institu- 
tions, of special laws, or of precise ceremonial regulations 
he originated and established very little. 

One thing, however, Christ did institute — he estab- 
lished the "Lord's Supper;" he built for himself a 
monument ; he inscribed upon it the one holy legend of 
the Lamb of God; and he blessed it as God in Christ 
alone could bless, to make it forever a precious means of 
grace to the church. Through more than eighteen hun- 
dred years, what superabundant richness of blessing has 
mysteriously rested upon the bread and wine of this 
memorial institution ! No doubt millions of men and 
women — whose bodies are now dust, and whose very 
names long since faded from the earth — here found hope 
and comfort and strength ; here found courage to live, 

and courage to die. 

(258) 



THE lord's supper. 259 

In the primitive church, the solemn observance of the 
Lord's Supper was the central act of Christian worship ; 
and in the bitter times of persecution, the disciples 
seem to have regarded its celeLration as their holiest 
duty and their most gladsome privilege 

History gives some beautiful and touching pictures of 
the Waldenses ; but, to my mind — none other so im- 
pressive as the scenes in which we view those persecuted 
saints — at midnight, in torchlit caves, high up on the 
side of the Alps, at peril of their lives, secretly assem- 
bled in these upper chambers to commemorate the 
Savior's dying love. 

Forty years ago, it was not unusual for our own fathers 
and mothers to go from five to fifteen miles through the 
wild forest, or over the hills — riding or walking to the 
'* Meeting" of the brethren in some log school house. 
There they met on the Lord's day to Break Bread. They 
gave to the Supper the place of honor, — the precedence 
to all else in their simple public service. With the 
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth — yea with joy 
and adoration they kept the feast; and they realized in a 
large measure the spiritual blessings which the Master 
intended this institution should convey to his faithful 
followers. 

In our day this monument of Christ does not appear to 
be cherished with such loving care ; indeed, by many it 
is sadly neglected. The ignorance, or the want of in- 
struction concerning it in the church is as surprising as 
it is distressing. It is often regarded with cold indiffer- 
ence even by those who profess to love the Lord; and 
often when seriously and formally observed — it is from 
false or most inadequate motives. 



260 THE lord's supper. 

'' For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, 
and not a few sleep !" 1 Cor. xi : 30. 

Believing that there is health and strength in the 
atmosphere that surrounds it, that sweetest spiritual 
influences here wait to gladden the saints, that this mon- 
umental institution should be the glory of the church, I 
ardently desire to arouse your attention, wake your in- 
terest, that by prayerful study you may become some- 
what sensible of its deep meaning and its immeasurable 
importance. 

I always felt a keen sympathy with Scott's '^ Old Mor- 
tality " in his loving, self-imposed mission — going about 
with his mallet and chisel through South Scotland, 
clearing the moss from the tombstones, and zeal- 
ously renewing the epitaphs of the Convenanters. But 
how infinitely grander and holier would be the work of 
him who could cause the memorial of the crucified Lord 
to stand out again in the service of the church vivid, 
eloquent, beautiful, joyous, as it stood in the early dawn 
of the Christian era ! That, would cause a revolution, 
or evoke a new creation, and, in religious experience, 
we w^ould pass from comparatively a winter of death to a 
summer of life. 

I have no idle wish this morning to attempt an elabo- 
rate discourse, to wreathe this monument with white 
and- scarlet blossoms ; but my aim is to place before 
you a few plain suggestive truths which may enable you 
to see the subject in its proper light, and provoke some, 
at least, to give hereafter that searching study which it 
so richly deserves. 
1. When instituted. 
It was on an April Thursday evening, A.D. 33 



THE lord's supper. 261 

It was the time for the Passover, and thousands of 
devout Jews had assembled at Jerusalem to take part in 
their grandest festival. A¥ith loins girt and staff in hand 
they were to eat the paschal lamb in memory of the time 
when the angel of death passed over the blood sprinkled 
doors of their fathers in Egypt. The end of the ministry 
of Christ on earth drawing near. Selfish contention of 
the disciples. Jesus washes their feet : Love stoops to 
serve, and dignifies the most menial service. Prediction 
of the betrayal ] — '' Lord is it I ?" Departure of Judas. 
John xiii : 27. 

It was the hour of darkness — "the same night in 
which he was betrayed." 1 Cor. xi : 23. It was then 
that the Son of God established the institution which 
was to survive the ruin of empires, and to remain for- 
ever an epitome of the Gospel. 

2. The name. 

''What's in a name?" Always much; sometimes 
everything ! 

Necessity of pure and accurate speech. Words rule 
the world, and names are of vital importance. A friend 
of mine recently lost his little boy. by poison, through 
the fatal mistake of a druggist in changing the labels 
of two bottles. Upon names depend order, unity, peace, 
safety. In Genesis xi, we read that the Lord confounded 
the language of the people at Babel, in order to scatter 
them abroad on the face of the earth. Confusion of 
tongues is the cause of division in the church. Shibbo- 
leth and Sibboleth have been the opposing generals on 
many a battle field. 

One of the distinguishing characteristics .of the Disci- 
ples has hitherto been their wise zeal for pure speech. If 



262 THE lord's supper. 

we ignore this we lose one of the important distinctive 
features which give us a right to exist, and to claim to be 
a peculiar people with a great mission. Let us cling to 
good old English Bible names for Bible things ! * * 
* * That word " Sacrament " has stolen in among us, 
and seems to be quite at home of late, since it is actually 
countenanced by some of our preachers and teachers ; 
nevertheless, the word comes from Babylon and Rome, 
and is a mischief maker. "Sacrament" is a military 
and judicial term, meaning a vow, an oath of allegiance, 
an awful pledge, or a seal ; and it has nothing in com- 
mon with the idea of this sweet and simple institution. 
As a name, it deceives, darkens, confuses the mind, and 
is anti-scriptural ; and no well educated Disciple can ever 
tolerate its use. 

The Bible names, descriptions, or definitions as you 
may choose to consider them, we find to be : 

1. " The Lord's Supper." 1 Cor. xi : 20. 

2. " The Lord's Table." 1 Cor. x : 21. 

3. " The Communion." 1 Cor. x : 16. 

4. '' Breaking Bread." Acts ii : 4 and xx : 7. 
Surely, we need no n^ore expressive aijd complete 

terminology than fhis. 

3. The materials. 

A plain loaf of bread and a cup of pure, red wine. 
These are the silent but strangely eloquent emblems of 
the body and blood of God's dear Son ; they proclaim 
the Lord's death, and declare him to be the Savior of 
those who accept him — who receive him as the very life 
of their life. 

In every language, bread is called the support or staff 
of life. The Jews in their poetic style called wine, "the 



THE lord's supper. 263 

pure blood of grapes," and with them blood meant life 
itself. Deut. xi : 23. " Only be sure that thou eat not 
the blood; for the blood is the life." Now, Jesus had 
delighted to speak of himself as "■ the living bread which 
came down from heaven," and had said to the Jews on 
one occasion : *' My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood 
is drink indeed !" The disciples were familiar with this 
figurative style of address, and when the Lord said of 
the loaf: "This is my body," and of the wine, "This 
in my blood," they of course understood that he merely 
appropriated these materials as most expressive em- 
blems of himself. He is the source and support of life 
— in him we live and move and have our being. As life 
is in the blood, and support of life is in the bread ; so 
Christ is spiritually present in the bread and wine — in 
the soul's feast to all who by faith apprehend and 
receive him. To such he is life itself in the deepest^ 
highest sense. 

4. When to be celebrated. 

This is not positively enjoined. There is no rule pre- 
scribing the time and frequency of the feast. But, the 
nature of the institution, and the words : " This do ye as 
oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me!" would sug- 
gest frequent observance. Indeed, we may reasonably 
affirm that it became the regular, hence divinely sanc- 
tioned, custom in the days of the Apostles for the church 
to celebrate the Supper every Lord's day. " And upon the 
first day of the week when the disciples came together 
to break bread, Paul preached to them." Acts ix : 7 

The most distinguished ancient and modern Bible 
commentators agree that the chief object of the meeting 
of the early disciples was " to break bread " in memory 



264 THE lord's supper. 

of the crucified Lord ; and that as a rule they assembled 
for that purpose on the first day of every week. 

Just here, it is of interest to note the fact that the 
'^ Mass " — " The consecration and oblation of the host," 
or the Communion service, in the Roman Catholic church 
constitutes the principal part of public worship, and is 
celebrated every day in the year. 

The objection that its power will be decreased by fre- 
quent repetition, if of any real force, must be of equal 
force against any and all acts of worship. Seriously 
devoted disciples feel that they cannot do without this 
most helpful means of grace ; and they delight often to 
sit with the loved and loving children around the table 
of the Lord. Believe me, every time you neglect the 
assembly of the saints, and stay away from this feast of 
holy memories and spiritual communion ydiu do rob 
your soul of riches more precious than any that earth 
can ever give. 

One Sunday afternoon of the springtime several years 
ago — in a large cemetery — I saw a little girl sitting alone 
at the foot of a grave. She was weaving a wreath of 
wild blossoms, and as she wove, tears were dropping 
down upon the flowers. In answer to my questions, she 
said: "I am making a wreath for my poor mama's 
grave ; they buried her here last summer ; before she 
died, mama said I must come to her grave sometimes 
and put flowers upon it; she told me not to forget her, 
and that was the last thing she ever said to me." '^ Yes, 
I love to come here and make believe I'm talking to 
poor, dear mama." 

I believe that there was much of pure, human sympa- 
thy, of the craving mother-heart love in the feeling that 



THE lord's supper. 265 

prompted Jesus, when he said: *' This do in remem- 
brance of me!" 

5. By whom to be celebrated. 

It is not necessary for us to enter the field of fruitless 
controversy, and try to decide who are Christians and 
who are not ; whatever may be done at the door of the 
church, whatever may be proper in the church council, 
at the Lord's Supper there is no time nor room for the 
inspection of others. " Let a man examine himself, and 
so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup." If 
we bear in mind that this institution is a means of grace, 
and not an awful sacrament, not a mysterious sign and 
seal of holiness ; that we eat and drink to become good, 
and not because we are good, then we will not be shocked 
to see people at the Lord's table who happened not to 
be " of the same order and rule of faith as we." Those 
who hunger and thirst after righteousness ; those who 
believe in Christ, love him, accept him and earnestly 
struggle to obey him, must certainly have the right to 
try to honor him, and to get more of him in the blessed 
communion. 

Those people who are so exercised to guard these em- 
blems lest some unworthy one should touch the loaf and 
cup with impious hand, need rather to be asking in 
alarm: '' Lord is it I ?" 

6. Why instituted. 

As we have clearly seen, it was intended to be the 
lasting memorial of divine love. And as a monument 
how expressive, and matchlessly wonderful it is ! It is 
severely simple but more imposing and more durable 
than monuments of brass or stone. 



266 THE LOIiD's SUPPER. 

The great pyramid of Ghizeh still stands in Egypt. 
We are told that it was built more than two thousand 
years before the time of Christ. Its base covers thir- 
teen and a half acres of ground ; it is four hundred and 
eighty-four feet in heighth, and it has been estimated 
that it must have required a hundred thousand men for 
nearly fifty years to build it. The traveler in each gen- 
eration stands at the base, and gazing up upon the huge 
pile unaffected by sun and storm of the ages, wondering, 
calls it, the wonder of the world. Richard A. Proctor, 
writing of the pyramids, says : 

'' When rightly viewed they must be regarded not as 
monuments which should excite our admiration, but as 
stupendous records of the length to which tyranny and 
selfishness, folly and superstition and lust of power will 
carry man. It is not known that these pyramids were 
ever of any use or good to the human race.'^ How 
unlike the monument built by the Son of God ! It 
towers above them in all that constitute power, sublimity 
and glory, and the event which it commemorates is the 
wonder of the universe, and will be the subject of song 
in heaven after the earth and the works therein have 
been burned up — yea, even after time and death have 
ceased to be ! Then, with what lively interest and 
trembling reverence should we read the inscriptions : 
'' This do in remembrance of me !" *' As often as ye 
eat this bread, and drink this cup ye do proclaim the 
Lord's death" — that death on the cross for sin — the 
amazing sacrifice of the Lamb of God — the death for me 
and for you — the death which made him the Redeemer 
of the world— the mighty victor over sin and ruin and 
death. While we ponder the truth, let us gather faith 



THE lord's supper. 267 

and hope and patience, knowing that however ill the 
world may go, or seem to go — this is the everlasting 
token that God so loved the world that he spared not 
his only begotten Son, but freely gave him for it. Evil 
must perish at last, and God in Christ will conquer. 

Again, with holy joy should we read the prophecy of 
the great festal jubilee which awaits the children of God. 
''Ye do proclaim the Lord's death tillhe come." ''Until 
that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's 
kingdom." This Supper has been fitly called by some 
one, " The memorial of faith, the feast of love, the proph- 
ecy of hope !" While ever reminding us of the cross 
and the tomb, it points onward and skyward, it speaks 
of immortality. To those who observe it with love, 
humility and penitence, the meaning and power of the 
Communion will be revealed. In these seasons of grace 
their spirits will seem to be in the very suburbs of 
heaven. And while Humility whispers: " Put off thy 
shoes from off thy feet; for the place whereon thou 
standest is holy ground !" Faith and Love bowed in 
adoration will say : " This is none other than the house 
of God, and this is the gate of heaven " Verily, Beloved 
it is a time for silence, for thought, for prayer and for 
tears, and for smiles too, as we look forward to the mar- 
riage supper of the Lamb and his Bride. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE. 

[An evening lecture delivered in Chicago in the winter of 1875.] 

Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth a 
favor of the Lord. — Proverbs. 

Within the narrow compass of an hour it would be 
impossible to make a complete investigation of the sub- 
ject before us, and we must be content with a merely 
suggestive outline of some important truths which 
demand the earnest attention of every Christian, and 
every patriot citizen. 

Even hurried glances at the customs, the civil and 

moral rights, the duties and obligations which follow as 

corollaries the institution of marriage, in the history of 

different nations, would require a full summer day. The 

student would find here a most fruitful field for long and 

patient comparative research : and could he gather from 

the usage, laws, and opinions of all countries and ages 

that which is wisest and most beautiful in each relative 

to marriage, doubtless our social science would be 

greatly enriched. Looking to the weal and woe of church, 

or state, or family, there is no theme that bears more 

(268) 



MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE. 269 

weighty and solemn interest than .the one before us to- 
night. Hence we do deprecate, and in the beginning 
must protest against the irreverence, trifling, and un- 
seemly jesting with which most people are wont to treat 
this sacred subject. Out of the thoughtless merriment 
and the rude banter in which so many indulge about this 
matter spring some of the bitterest trials, the most im- 
placable miseries of society. 

We should remember that married life is not a mock- 
ing comedy, but a high drama of thrilling import ; and 
often is it as serious a thing to wed as it ought to be to 
die ! The same sacred bell that peals for one tolls for 
the other. Listening now to the joy, then to the sad- 
ness of both let us learn to think reverently! In the 
room of death there is no shocking raillery — no light 
speech — no idiotic laugh ; there is ever the subdued 
tone and the thoughtful word. We wreathe the coffin 
with white lillies and white violets, and wet them with 
tears while we murmur prayers to God. We feel that 
there is an awful interest solemnizing the " last scene of 
all that ends this strange, eventful history." 

Now, could our visions pierce the cloud that hides 
approaching years, we would see often more cause for 
tears and prayers at the wedding than at the funeral ; 
and the marriage altar would at once become invested 
with the most inviolate sanctity. True the result of 
this might be fewer marriages, but this restraint of far- 
reaching and sober thought would be a most wholesome 
one. Society would soon grow to be purer, more peace- 
ful, and happier. Indeed, it would be too much for the 
pen — enough for the brush to paint — the bright pictures 
of what might be, were this noble institution placed 



270 MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE. 

before the people — stripped of the mask of romance and 
falsehood, and standing in the simple light of stern but 
benignant truth. 

We believe that marriage is a divine institution, 
founded in the wisdom of God for the welfare of the 
human race. Therefore, our conclusions should not be 
drawn from the theories of men, but direct from the 
teachings of heavenly inspiration. In order, then, to 
understand its original nature and design, we propose to 
examine carefully what is taught in the Bible concern- 
ing the primeval man and woman, and their marriage in 
Eden. 

In the wondrous account of creation given by Moses, 
we are informed that so thoroughly satisfied with His 
own work was the Great Creator, that upon earth aiid 
star and sun, upon day and night, upon beasts and bird, 
tree and flower, upon each and everything. He pro- 
nounced the benediction, ''It is good!" But after He 
had made man in the image and after the likeness of 
God — had endued him with the intelligence and power 
to be the ruler over all the earth — had given him a spir- 
itual and animal nature of boundless capacities for enjoy- 
ment — we read those significant words in Genesis ii : 18, 
"And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man 
should be alone ; I will make him an helpmeet for him." 
Not good, because man was to multiply and replenish 
the earth ; not good to be alone, because God did not 
make man to live alone, and the interests of his spiri- 
tual, mental, and physical organization all alike demand 
an associate. 

Discourse as you may about the amenities of the her- 
mit's solitude, and the beautiful life of single blessedness. 



MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE. 271 

the monk and the nun, the old maid and the bachelor, 
the man-hater, and the woman-hater are all abnormal 
creatures. Their life is opposed to nature and the indis- 
putable original intention of their Creator. Those peo- 
ple who from false views wilfully wrap themselves up 
so complacently in selfish singleness of life most gen- 
erally — not always — furnish abundant evidence of the 
God-declared truth that it is not good for man to be 
alone — nor woman either ! Many of them live and 
dwindle to be (not grow) very much like those little, old 
cedar trees that live along the cold edge of the snowy 
range upon the Rocky Mountains. They are miserable 
dwarfs — one sided, and never bearing anything but a few 
little bitter, hitter blue berries. They shelter no flower 
— and never give a home even to a sparrow. 

It is highly probable that in the freshness and novelty 
of all around him — in his keen enjoyment of buoyant, 
perfect life, Adam felt no sense of his peculiarly soli- 
tary and isolated position. Possibly, if he thought of it 
at all, he considered that he was in himself all-sufficient 
in his sphere for unshadowed happiness. God knew 
better; and no doubt chiefly in order to impress man 
with a consciousness of his lonely and needful condition, 
the Lord caused every fowl, all cattle, and every beast 
of the field to pass before Adam; and although it was 
his honor and delight to give names to them all, still out 
of all the mighty multitude of living creatures "for 
Adam there was not found an helpmeet !" 

Of course God understood this from the first, and after 
the wonderful living panorama had all passed before the 
Man, he himself must have recognized the perplexing 
fact that he stood upon earth an utterly lonely being ; 



272 MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE. 

and from afar we look upon him in that picture as the 
sublime Columbus of creation ! 

It was then that the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall 
upon Adam, and He took the rib from his side, of which 
made He woman. The credibility of such an account is 
not under discussion to-night, but it may be well to 
remind you, that strange as it all seems, it is as pro- 
foundly reasonable as is any of the conjectures ever 
offered by human philosophers, and it is the simple 
statement of this great book. Now, from all that we can 
collect upon the subject in the entire Bible, there is 
nothing to authorize the opinion that woman was created 
as an inferior to man. While more exquisitely delicate 
and beautiful in organization, she must have been as an • 
individual of the genus or race man, just as thoroughly 
perfect as Adam. She was his peer, his helpmeet, and 
to her with the man God gave the blessing and afterward 
the charge. Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the 
earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over every 
living thing that moves in the sea and upon the earth." 
That we may unfold more clearly to view this radical and 
important truth, let us search for the exact meaning of the 
words, " I will make him an helpmeet for him." The 
most learned linguists agree that the Hebrew should be 
translated, ''I will make him an helpmeet, as his 
opposite." She was to be his help, but at the same 
time his mate, his equal. Not his slave or tool, but the 
converse and the complement of man. They were not to 
have different spheres and different missions, but as male 
and female, as man and woman, each a hemisphere to 
make one sphere of life, and to fulfill the same mission. 
Woman has precisely the same right in man as he has in 



MARKIAGK AND DIVORCE. 273 

her — a right supreme; hence Adam's authoritative de- 
claration as the great federal head of humanity. 
'' Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, 
and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one 
flesh." And the Savior, enlarging upon this, says, '' So 
then they are no more twain, but one flesh." 

Before entering upon the consideration of some ques- 
tions belonging to the subject, which we wish to make of 
a practical bearing, it is necessary to submit the ground 
for our unqualified statement that marriage is a divine 
institution. Notwithstanding the exceedingly terse and 
comprehensive style in which the history of creation is 
given, there is special pains taken to tell us in so many 
distinct words, that when the Lord God had made 
woman. He Himself brought her unto the man, He 
blessed the new-made pair, and gave them charge concern- 
ing their life's joint mission. It is not at all improbable 
that the ceremony of presentation and marriage in Eden 
was as beautiful and solemnly impressive, as the Great 
Father alone could make it. Christ refers directly to 
this time and scene when, in talking to the Pharisees 
about the bill of divorcement permitted by Moses, He 
repudiates the idea that their practice of divorce had the 
divine approval. For the hardness of your heart 
Moses wrote you this precept, but from the beginning it 
was not so. ''God made them male and female, for this 
cause shall a man leave father and mother and cleave to 
his wife. And they twain shall be one flesh ; so then 
they are no more twain but one flesh. What, therefore, 
God hath joined togethe-^, let no man put asunder!'' To 
them that believe and accept Christ, these words are 

sufficient to dissipate forever the notion that marriage is 
18 



274 MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE. 

a mere civil and conventional rite to be honored or 
trampled in the dust at the caprice of man. 

From all these reflections we are bound to conclude 
the bands of marriage are not to be regarded as made of 
straw — but of inviolable obligations stronger than iron, 
which death alone should ever break. He that marries, 
marries for all time ; and in your speaker's mind it is a 
grave and undecided question whether any individual 
ought ever, under any circumstances to marry the second 
time. The wedded state involves a self-sacrifice, and 
imposes new duties, which in sacredness are only secon- 
dary to those which we owe directly to the Son of God. 
Whether we will it so or not, such are the nature and 
results of this institution that their influence must sweep 
through time to eternity. On account of the interests of 
others inseparably woven with those of self, if from no 
other consideration, every intelligent mortal should 
think well and deliberately before taking the step which 
cannot be retraced. Think not that we would say aught 
to discourage marriage ; for one of the alarming signs of 
this age is the unfrequency of " holy wife taking," but 
of marriage of a certain kind there is entirely too much. 
The young should be educated and drilled in knowledge 
of the fact that reason as well as love should have a voice 
in the selection of a life companion ; reason too, which 
will look beyond the day of the honeymoon, laden with 
the perfume of orange blossoms, to the field of everyday 
humdrum life, should be allowed to reckon the chances 
for joy and for misery before the last vow is taken. Un- 
fortunately most of the daughters, if not as many sons, in 
our land, have received all the impressions they have of 
marriage from the sensational novels — instead of from 



MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE. 275 

father and mother, or from the word of God. If you 
would know how the minds of the young are being 
poisoned — how thrilling passion is being fired and fed, 
how the seeds of ruin for society are being sown, visit 
any of our circulating libraries which are so surprisingly 
patronized by the sentimental young ladies and dreamy 
gallants of this city. Verily, so unreal, so improbable, 
and yet so bewitchingly efi*ective is all they read, that 
should gowns and jackets impregnated with yellow fever 
and small-pox be given to all, instead of those abominable 
books, while the result would be more immediate and 
apparent, it could not be more terrible. 

Never can we reasonably expect a healthy state of 
society until the young shall be taught that the days of 
knights-errant, of romantic ladies, of Alhambrian halls, 
and wild dreaming are over, and that we live in this 
sober age for useful, noble work. However, while reason 
would guard against being led by blind passion into a 
misalliance, or wretched marriage, its first and highest 
dictate is that none ever wed except with pure love as 
the controlling motive. Genuine and unselfish affection is 
ever the indispensable condition of happy marriage. With- 
out it the vow at the the altar is a hollow mockery and a 
lie. They that marry for ambition, for wealth, or merely 
to secure a home, commit a great sin before God, and 
shortsightedly perpetrate a cruel wrong against them- 
selves. While we cannot approve his conduct, we can 
but.admire the touching devotion of Adam to his wife ; 
and doubtless her love was equal to his : Paul tells Tim- 
othy — "And Adam was not deceived, but the woman 
being deceived was in the transgression." Adam knew 
what he was doing — he was not deceived, and hence was 



276 MARRIAGE AKD DIVORCE. 

tempted only by his love. Rather than leave his wife 
he deliberately ate and fell. And would you hear Paul 
himself on the subject as applied to man. Listen to his 
charge : " Husbands love your wives even as Christ also 
loved the church and gave himself for it !" Even after 
both reason and love have rendered a favorable decision, 
we are of the opinion that it is wise to avoid haste in 
consummating the marriage. Young friends, do not be 
in a hurry ; it is far better, if doomed to disappointment, 
to be undeceived by long and familiar acquaintance be- 
fore it may be, alas !- too late. There is a remarkable 
lesson in the conduct and disposition of Jacob, of whom 
it is said : " He served seven years for Rachel ; and they 
seemed unto him but a few days, because of the love he 
had for her." Such love is enviable, and such conduct 
worthy of imitation. It would be wrong to leave this 
branch of our theme without calling attention to a course 
of action sanctioned by Bible history and warmly com- 
mended by men of experienced observation. It is this : 
The newly-married couple should, as a general rule, 
move off to themselves. It can rarely be best for the old 
and the young family to live under the same roof-tree. 
Mistaken affection sometimes adopts this plan, and 
nearly always finds out, when beyond remedy, that it is 
contrary to nature. Even the robins are wiser in their 
way. Their young must scatter abroad, build their own 
nest, and rear their own family. The young pair that 
gets away out of sight of the smoke from father's chim- 
ney, even if they must begin life in the humblest cot- 
tage, are far more apt to be happy and successful than 
any of those who remain as dependents in the parental 
home, although it be a palace. 



MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE. 277 

We come now to consider for a few minutes, in con- 
clusion, the darker and sadder part of our subject. The 
practice of divorce has become an enormous and shame- 
ful evil in this country. Indeed, so widespread and 
deep-reaching is this ruinous cancer upon the bosom of 
society that it threatens the very life of the nation. Our 
most thoughtful statesmen have become alarmed and are 
already impressed with the urgent necessity to uproot 
this evil. From carelessness in the church, ignorance 
in the family, and from the demoralizing influence of 
sensational fiction and fashionable life, the masses have 
come to hold the loosest ideas of marriage and divorce. 
Society has become so demoralized that marriage seems 
often a farce. Through bad passions, low morals, fraud, 
and shark lawyers, bills of divorcement are becoming 
almost as common as certificates of marriage. The state 
of affairs in our social and domestic world reminds me of 
some simple lines written on marriage by an old poet : 

" Tis just like a summer bird cage in a garden — ■ 
The birds that are without despair to get in, and 
The birds that are within despair, and are in a consumption, 
for fear they shall never get out ! " 

By this time you must be fully prepared to hear that 
the Great Author of our holy religion gives no counten- 
ance to the Jewish, or to the popular theory and prac- 
tice. He clearly teaches that God's law and purpose 
never contemplated any such thing as divorce ; that in 
the beginning one man wedded one woman — the twain 
became one flesh, and nothing save wicked violation of 
divine law or death should ever divorce husband and 
wife. The statutes of your great State allow, as suffi- 



278 MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE. 

cient causes, adultery, desertion, extreme and repeated 
cruelty, habitual drunkenness, and infamous crime ; and 
I need not remind you that within these are found such a 
wide range that for the flimsiest pretext, covered with 
plenty of money, a bill of divorce can be speedily ob- 
tained. Not so with our Lord and Savior ; He allows 
only one cause — the sin and crime of adultery. He does 
grant that to be sufficient cause to break the marriage tie 
and give the writing of divorcement ; but no other cause 
does He recognize. Read Matt, xix : 3, 9; Mk. x:2. 
Now under the Christian law and practice, as it was in 
the Mosaic, we find that while the divorce made the in- 
nocent party free as though never married, and gave the 
liberty to marry again, the guilty party was given no 
such privilege. Soon as guilt was proven, and the di- 
vorce granted, the trial of the guilty began for criminal 
offense against the law of God and man. By the prac- 
tice in this age, both church and state, strange to say, 
make a standing offer of a premium upon adultery. Not 
only will the court grant an honorable divorce, but for 
popular considerations or often a petty fee, the faithful 
minister of God's word will dare stand before the altar 
and unite in " holy wedlock" even a shameless adulter- 
ess to a base libertine. Before the Lord this is a crying 
shame, an abominable sin — and the preacher that lends 
himself to such work deserves to be driven in disgrace 
from the sacred ministry. 

The sands of the hour are nearly run out, and I can 
only give you a summary of the New Testament teach- 
ing. Christ is very brief in His instruction upon the 
subject; but He is explicit, and from Him, as constitut- 
ing the Supreme Court of the Universe, for the Christian 



97Q 
MAEEIAQE AND DIVORCE. 



, 1 * * * * However, 

there can be no appeal. '^ 

many people have very erroneously supposed that Faul 
fin I Cor , vii.,) expounds a more liberal doctrine of 
£orce ; and from his words presume to draw authon y 
for finding in desertion, incompatibility, etc., not only 
ust grounds for divorce, but the right of remarriage 
Now Paul is only speaking of separation in extreme 
cases, and not at all of what we understand by divorce 
Divorce is the annulling, the breaking of marriage bond 
but separation is simply ceasing to live together-still 
husband and wife, but living apart f'^o'" J^^^^ othe . 
Cases must occur when the happiness and best interests 
of both parties, and between whom there is no cnme 
demand that they separate, and walk through life m 
different ways. Now hear the law from Paul-speakmg, 
I he says, in the name of the Lord «' Let -Uhe - « 
depart from the husband ; but and if she depart, let her 
remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband ; and 
let not the husband put away his wife." By no possible 
truthful construction of the words of Christ and iis apos 
ties can anyone gather the theory ^^^t ^i^ ^"°7.*^^ 
commonly received causes for divorce ; that he sanctions 
the marriage of the guilty even when divorced; and 
that those who 'are permitted to separate, or merely 
"put away," "depart," are given even the least pre- 
tend oTa'right to mar;y again. I know that this law 
will seem hard and cruel to some, but let us remember 
that God ordereth all for the best ; and let us receive 
the earnest conviction of all pure and thoughtfu minds, 
that only by strict observance of divine law can the hap- 
piness of t/e individual, the purity of society, the peace 
and safety of the nation be permanently insured! 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



WASTE OF INTELLECT. 

[An address before the <?. F. J. Society.] 

*' Some mute inglorious Milton, here may rest, 
Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country's blood." 

These lines from the old churchyard elegy, naturally 
lead us to contemplate the enormous waste of intellect 
there must be in each age of the world. How wonderful 
would be that book, which should unfold to our vision 
the possibilities of common individual life, the history 
of what men might have been ! There is a walk sadder 
than that among the marble shafts, and willows of the 
graveyard : It is among the fancied tombs of dead minds, 
minds dwarfed and prematurely blighted, minds neg- 
lected until they perished, and oblivion shrouded them 
as her own. Actuated by the desire to help, if possible, 
some young and gifted mind break the spell of ruin, 
which coma-like is creeping over it ; I am ever glad of 
an opportunity to enter the ranks with those whose mis- 
sion it IS to make noise enough — no matter how hideous 
— to keep a few awake in this drowsy world. In the 
class of the young and gifted, we would include the 

many, and exclude none. Each human child has within 

(280) 



WASTE OF INTELLECT. 281 

him a power, not so remarkable for its native strength, 
as for the almost limitless capability of development in 
might ; not for what it actually is, but for what it may 
become. To prove this power, may be said to consti- 
tute the great end of our existence. This is the end 
which all nature seems ever seeking to attain, the power 
of full growth, of ultimate perfection, of giving the 
answer for which it was created. We see this in the 
gradual development of the beautiful bright blossom 
from the brown bud. The plant rests not until it unfolds 
the charms that lie concealed in its bosom. The unat- 
tractive germ which lies hidden in the rude and russet 
shell, and around which '' life's golden threads in end- 
less circles wind," carries within itself a marvelous 
growing power. Although seemingly idle and purpose- 
less, it is ever industriously accumulating and appropri- 
ating fresh materials, which in turn are arranged and 
organized, rapidly giving signs of its higher aim. The 
sunshine that breaks the murky cloud into a thousand 
forms of beauty is but calmly striving to assume the 
perfect glory of its power; and the child whose proud 
ringing laugh heralds the mastery of his first lessons, 
unconsciously develops the same life impulse seeking to 
prove the power it has felt its own. It is on this account, 
that we take such delight in the accomplishment of 
some mental work which taxes our powers to their 
utmost; and richly indeed is he rewarded who despite 
all obstacles dares to push on to some commanding emi- 
nence, above the nerveless mediocres, who cherish no 
aspirations higher than the tubs, in which, Diogenes 
like, they contentedly pass their lazy lives. He most 
deserves the name of genius, who but brings forth and 



282 WASTE OP INTELLECT. 

applies to action the powers within him. This is done 
only by iron will, and the most tenacious effort. Hence 
if called upon to define genius in the light of our day, 
we would answer : The intellect that works, the resolute 
mind which will not be buried alive, but must burst the 
bands of sensuous nature and go forth as a light, even 
though that light be only as the shimmer from the frag- 
ment of a star. The path of such a genius ever widens 
before it, and while a path remains there is will and 
power to traverse it. You must remember, however 
that this is no path for the unstable idler; it leads 
across the arid desert, and over the rocks, that must 
sometimes cause one to grow footsore and weary. To 
the strong willed mind, though the lodestar of life be 
dim and distant, its light is fixed and certain, whilst all 
lessers lights are but reflections in myriad descending 
shades, shades that must be passed one by one, just as 
the rounds of Jacob's ladder, which stretching high 
from earth is finally lost in the midst of the blue heavens. 
To inspire the young with daring and strength to climb 
this steep should be the aim of all great and good men. 

It certainly would require no argument to persuade 
you that it is in your power, by diligent exercise, to 
become physically strong. No one is so foolish as to 
presume that the powerful gymnast is born such, or to 
doubt that the brawny arm of the blacksmith became so 
by swinging the huge hammer for years. Indeed, if one 
display strength and skill in any game, in any art or 
trade, we spring at once to the natural conclusion, that 
it is the result of patience and laborious practice. 

Dugald Stewart tells of a shepherd on the Alps, who 
actually spent all his spare time for fifteen years, learn- 



WASTE OF INTELLECT. 283 

ing to balance a long pole endwise on his chin ; and the 
writer knew a girl who practiced as an acrobat six hours 
a day through three years. Her persistence at last 
rendered her astonishingly skilled in walking the rope ; 
but she finally fell and her poor body was crushed 
and shattered upon the street of a Southern city. An 
accurate account of this kind of toil in the world, would 
seem no doubt incredible. And yet all this was at best, 
but laborious idleness; and we can only conjecture how 
much of lasting good, had they been directed to some 
noble object, this patience and preseverance would have 
accomplished. But the point we wish to make is this ; 
all these bodily accomplishments are the results of long 
continued and tireless effort. To this all accede, and 
yet when we look to the achievements of mind, to the 
work of the speaker, the poet, the writer, the teacher, 
we have somehow a vague notion that the power comes 
strictly by fortunate original endowment, and not by de- 
velopment of natural capacity. Now, where is the 
average youth, who could not enter the ball ground, 
and by five years toilsome practice with paddle and ball 
become an expert player ? It requires endurance, strength 
and flexibility of body, lightning rapidity of action and 
great self-command. The answer comes from every 
young man, I could do it! Well, the same amount of 
earnestness, patience and work (directed to the devel- 
opment of your mental powers) would lift you to an ele- 
vation in the intellectual world, and give you a proud 
position among those shining ones, the miners of truth 
and thought. There is, within each one of us, concealed 
an undeveloped strength which should be called out and 
diligently applied to some grand and good work. It is 



284 WASTE OF INTELLECT. 

the mind, with its boundless capabilities ; for indeed, 
we know not what this sleeping giant may be ; the 
mind which as yet has put forth but little of its wonder- 
ful power. The world has somehow lacked the incen- 
tive needful ; man slumbers and dreams, or indifferently 
addresses himself to things of the body; and we never 
imagine that beneath these heavy fleshly guises of the 
common multitude, we have a race of princes. 

Place the mind under the control of ambition, or let 
its possessor be impelled by want, it will shake ofl" the 
sloth and command the admiration of the world. The 
warrior who has demolished throne and altar, and 
erected the idol of his authority on the fragments, and 
the history of hundreds in the literary world, furnish 
examples illustrative of this assertion. When the sur- 
face of society is calm and undisturbed, few ever rise to 
distinction, and the people suspect that the day for 
great men and women has about passed away, but stir 
up its depths, lash its elements into civil, political or 
religious commotion, and like A^enus from the vexed 
waters of the ^gean gea, intellects of commanding power 
arise to preside over and command the storm. When 
Greece was in danger from external and internal foes, 
her orators and poets gained their enviable distinction ; 
when treason walked in the streets of Rome, the thun- 
ders of Cicero awoke the slumbers of the Senate Cham- 
ber ; when poverty and affliction gathered around the 
fireside of Milton, his mental powers put on new vigor, 
and when the productions of the " warrior bard " became 
the theme of the reviewer's redicule, his sleeping ener- 
gies awoke to manlier action. When the chains of 
the tyrant clanked on the ears of our forefathers, the 



WASTE OF INTELLECT. 285 

spirit stirring appeals of men like Patrick Henry sent 
terror to the distant throne. When madness first seized 
the people, and the gathered storms of civil war were 
about to burst in all their fury upon us, then like war- 
riors hidden in the heath, springing up to answer the 
bugle of their highland chief, patriot orators, warriors 
and statesmen of colossal might, sprang up everywhere 
to answer their country's cry of distress. And at last 
when the tempest was at its height, and the heart of the 
nation was sad — for in the blackness, there seemed no 
hope for the ship of State — the mind of Abraham Lincoln 
was girded with apparently superhuman strength, and 
he stood calmly at the helm till the peaceful morning of 
a free and glorious era had dawned. If it be true then, 
that mind needs but some incentive to call forth its 
latent powers; how much of strength, in the halcyon 
days of peace, mustlie wasted and undeveloped. Viewed 
from this standpoint, war is certainly not an unmiti- 
gated curse, since it ennobles the race by elevating the 
individual to something of that lofty attainment for 
which he was designed. 

The shepherd who tells his aspirations to the moun- 
tain winds, or unheeding flock, if aroused by a revolu- 
tion, might embalm his name in immortal verse, and the 
unknown patriot youth might become the presiding 
genius of thousands. 



" The humblest reed that trembles in the marsh, 
If heaven select it for its instrument, 
May shed celestial music on the breeze, 
As clearly as the pipe, whose virgin gold 
Befits the lips of Phoebus." 



286 WASTE OF INTELLECT. 

But perhaps, the most melancholy picture of wasted 
intellect is not the view of it as buried, but that pre- 
sented in its perversion. There seems to be a strange 
fatality ever attendant, especially on great original 
minds, inclining them to wander away into strange 
tracks, as if delighting in a wild display of their own 
powers. Such a mind bursting every shackle which 
plodding mediocrity would throw around it; gazing with 
delight on the untraveled fields of thought and science, 
enters new paths ; and it may be aims at the noblest 
ends. Conscious of its glorious powers it either expati- 
ates in the loftiest regions of the fancy, or with equal 
joy investigates new truths in the domain of philosophy. 
But pervert these powers, give loose reigns to their 
caprice, let them wander undisciplined, unrestrained, 
and they become the most fruitful sources of human 
shame and misery. It is fit to worship at the shrine of 
well directed genius, but to see it diffusing a pernicious, 
instead of a beneficial influence, shining but to mislead, 
attracting but to betray, calls forth sentiments of pity 
and dread. Such feelings are inspired in contemplating 
the character of Byron, endowed with preeminent tal- 
ents, capable of attaining the very highest distinction in 
the walks of poetry. 

*' He betrayed his trust, and lent his gift 
Of glorious faculties, to blight and mar 
The moral universe, and set adrift 
The anchored hopes of millions." 

Not less deplorable was the career of the Corsican 
who immolated the peace and liberty of nations upon the 
altar of his own private ambition. Possessing power for 



WASTE OF INTELLECT. 287 

obtaining fame as a statesman and lawgiver, he sacri- 
ficed them to his passion for conquest ] and the bleaching 
bones of slaughtered millions on the plains and moun- 
tains of Europe, still proclaim that his mighty intellect 
was converted into a rank upas to curse and blight the 
world. Much more to be lamented is the influence of 
those who have endeavored to destroy the sacred rela- 
tion between man and his Creator. Who would place 
man on a level with the brute creation ; who would not 
raise a mortal to the skies, but bring the angels down. 

Influenced in their researches by bitter prejudice, 
ignorance or excited passion, framing their theories 
from a one-sided study of nature's laws, they have 
denied the beautiful harmony of her operations, because 
something to their colored vision seemed contrary to the 
great purposes of an intelligent author. The very atmos- 
phere of such minds has ever been pestilential to society; 
there is nothing sweet and healthful ; they blacken and 
wither all who come within the circle of their infidel 
influence ; hence such works as those of Paine, Voltaire, 
Hume and Owen should be carefully labelled '' Poison !" 
and no young man should touch them, as he values the 
good cheer and peace of his mind. When men are pre- 
pared to adopt the motto, "no God, and death an 
eternal sleep," or " no religion, but that of reason and 
conscience," human laws become a mockery, and all 
government is at the mercy of a lawless mob. The his- 
tory of the French Revolution bears ample testimon to 
this assertion, and the moral of that bloody tragedy is 
written in characters too deep ever to be forgotten. Con- 
sidering man as sustaining relations to the whole world, 
and to his Creator, how strong are the obligations which 



288 WASTE OF INTELLECT. 

demand the wisest use of his noble powers. The lips 
of the present and the future plead with him for high 
and honorable mental exertion. The interests of human- 
ity, in a voice mute, but more powerful than the syllabic 
speech of whirlwinds, or the solemn invocation from the 
silent graves of the dead, appeal to every mind to use 
its gift to make brighter the way of human pilgrimage. 
There never was an era when industrious and disciplined 
minds had such an immense field for action as now. 
The world seems as though but just cleared, and the 
human race as if about to put forth its full energy to 
accomplish a work truly sublime. Man has caught an 
inkling of the truth that thought power is mightier than 
physical power, and the time is swiftly passing forever 
away when the Nation can be ruled by brute force. 

The mind is yet to be king, and to-day the peoples 
from every land beneath the sun are loudly calling for 
his ennobling sway. At home and abroad the wakeful 
cultured mind is everywhere in demand. We need men 
of mental education in the field, we need them in the 
workshop, we need them in the halls of instruction, in 
tha forum, more than ever before in the pulpit, in the 
editor's chair, yea, we need them sorely everywhere! 
AVhat a field of promise then, is opened up before every 
young man, stirring the noble ambition of virtuous youth, 
bidding none despair, wooing each worker with vision of 
a crown more enviable than that which circled the brow of 
Petrarch in the Eternal city. In science there are untold 
mysteries, whose solution must tax the energies of some 
future Newton or Franklin or Edison. There are stars 
still beaming in space whose light nas not yet greeted 
the rapt vision of the astronomer. There are truths in 



WASTE OF INTELLECT. 289 

philosophy which have bowed the intellects of Bacon 
and Locke, of Darwin and Hall ; and have been laid 
upon the table to be grasped by coming better prepared 
minds. 

There are thousands of undiscovered secrets hidden in 
the rocks which must employ the genius and mallet of a 
second Hugh Miller. There are silent and concealed 
steeds amid the forces of nature, which have not been 
brought forth and harnessed to work, that must richly 
reward the inventors yet to come. And what countless 
themes, burdened with thought, in the fields of history, 
philosophy, fiction and poetry, wait to employ and 
honor the pen of the future author ! Fain would we 
have a glimpse of Time's Roll of Honor, of the names 
elected from the many, to be made, because of thought 
and work, immortal ! The idle longing cannot be grati- 
fied, and yet this much we can know. They whose 
names are to be written there, must be men who spared 
no pains, no toil, no tears in the determined struggle to 
win the victory. Then, let those who have minds, and 
surely none here lay claim to idiocy, get squarely down 
to work, seize every possible hour with a miser's greed, 
to enrich the mind, and strive with the most dogged 
determination to be somebody among the tall sons of 
earth. 

If any are mournfully constrained to think that they 

have only one talent, let them not despond ; many gain 

wealth with that as first capital ! Let them not hide it 

away in the napkin of indolence, nor allow it to become 

subservient to their passions, for the passions are at once 

both tempters and chastisers. As tempters they come 

with sweet garlands of flowers on the brows of youth, as 
19 



290 WASTE OF INTELLECT. 

chastisers they at last appear with hideous wreaths of 
snakes on the forehead of deformity. They are angels 
of light in their delusion ; they are fiends of torment in 
their infliction ; they flatter that they may revile ; they 
raise us to the dome in the sky that they may dash us 
down upon the rugged stones. Like the daughters of King 
Lear, they first beguile the victim of his sovereignty 
and power, and when their dupe is enfeebled and de- 
pendent, robbed of every friendly support, of every 
pleasant companion, a beggar in consolation and hope, 
they cast him out upon the desert to the darkness of the 
night, and the fury of the storm. Thus is it ever with 
the man who allows his mind to be wasted and trampled 
by the passions, the night of shame and sorrow must 
come when there is no stafi* to lean upon, no shelter for 
the crazed head, ft-om the raging tempest. Each one of 
you then, should ever be upon the alert lest some des- 
potic passion gain the mastery and you be lost in a hor- 
rible slavery. No matter what may be your surround- 
ings, resolve to attain at least to some degree of mental 
culture, and do not be content to grow old in cheerless 
ignorance. The true poet from the depths of his sorrow- 
ful experience voices forth the songs that shall cheer 
and soothe the weary hearts through out the world. The 
sterling w^arrior gives his thought and blood to win vic- 
tories for children's children yet unborn. The voyager 
whom a storm has cast upon an unpeopled shore, en- 
graves upon the rocks the names of those aliments he 
has discovered, and points out to those who may be in- 
volved in a similar fate, the resources which he employed 
against danger and death. So those to whom intellect 
has been given, and whom the chances of this mortal 



WASTE OF INTELLECT. 291 

life have reserved for a career of public usefulness, 
should make it their constant purpose to transmit to 
future generations an intimate knowledge of those secrets 
of the soul, those unexpected consolations which parent 
nature has employed to smooth the way through the 
world, and over the grave unto deathless life ! 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



IS THERE A HELL? 

But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer 
darkness ; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. — Luke 
xvi : 23. 

And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment. — Matt. 
viii : 12. 

It would be a more welcome task this beautiful morn- 
ing to discuss some such sweet theme as that appointed 
for our next meeting, "What and Where is Heaven?" 
but the necessities of human nature often command that 
we look thoughtfully upon things from which we would 
fain hide our eyes. You delight in discourses all lumin- 
ous with cheerful thought, but are shriveled up like 
the mimosas by even the touch of a harsh subject. As 
an apology for sober pulpit studies, we might quote and 
extract the hidden sense of those familiar words from 
Solomon, the great preacher of ancient days: "It is 
better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of 
feasting, for that is the end of all men, and the living 
will lay it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter ; for 
by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made 

better." The wise man would have us learn life as it 

(292) 



IS THERE A HELL? 293 

actually is, that we may calmly anticipate both its lights 
and shadows. All, the old and the yomig, need the sub- 
duing and salutary effect of such sober lessons. 

The young volunteer only thinks of the unstained 
silken banner, the bright uniform, the stirring music, 
and the grand review -of the camping ground; but the 
brow of the veteran is overshadowed with thought of the 
long march, the smoke and hail of the bloody field, the 
desperate death ; and he nerves himself to endure all as 
a brave soldier. 

No language can convey to you an adequate concep- 
tion of the careless, sensuous joy which at times pos- 
sesses the passengers on one of those great steamers at 
sea. The clear sky, the peacefully rolling waters, the 
fresh ambient air, the gliding vessel, and the music on 
the deck, all things so beautiful and soul elevating, com- 
bine to make the voyagers lose all sense of danger, and 
revel in a sort of dreamy, unanxious life. And yet there 
is one on board who keeps mindful of the fact that there 
are ugly rocks beneath the dancing waters, and pent up 
storms in the blue sky above. The noble pilot must be 
watchful and sober, else the ship will go down, carrying 
its precious burden of life to horrible and untimely 
death. The most marked characteristic of this age is its 
self-complacency, its fearlessness of danger, or rather 
its strange persuasion that there is no danger to fear. 
Every day and every night there are wails and heart- 
rending shrieks from those who are going down — 
wrecked in this deceptive sea upon the rocks of sin. 
These sink into the depths beyond all help ; and could 
they send back any message to us to-day, doubtless it 
would be such as Dives prayed to send to his brethren, 



294 IS THERE A HELL? 

'Hhat they come not to this place of torment !" We 
accept this book as from God ; and in answering the 
question submitted, as well as in pointing to the terrible 
nature and end of sin, the speculation of men, and our 
own blind sentimentality must be put aside as worth- 
less, if not pernicious. However, before we look at the 
subject in the clear light of God's word — pushing 
through and passing by all merely human doctrine — it 
is important that we notice in order to condemn the old 
monstrous, and certainly unscriptural view of hell. The 
orthodox hell itself could never have sent forth a false- 
hood that in its horrible and blasphemous nature would 
prove a greater curse to man, a fouler insult to the great 
God ! Of all the rocks in the straits wherein doubting, 
hesitating men of the world have been wrecked, the 
frowning one is this. It, more than all things else, has 
driven thousands of noble natures from the army of the 
cross to the ranks of infidels. The day is not now very 
far away in the furrow of the moldy past when it was 
considered an essential doctrine and worthy of all accep- 
tation. 

Every sermon of the old fathers had something of the 
heat of its fire, and the smoke of its sulphur. Indeed, 
as Israel was awed into silence, and tremblingly im- 
pressed with the power and majesty of God by the thun- 
ders from Sinai, before the law was delivered ; so, for 
centuries it was deemed necessary to harrow up the 
hearts of people with the terrors of hell, before they 
could be ready to receive the gospel of Jesus. The dread 
of the fires that blazed in the nether world was used as 
the scorpion lash to drive men to repentance, and scourge 
them into heaven. According to that doctrine, hell is a 



IS THERE A HELL? 295 

place established by Almighty God before the creation 
of man. Deliberately planned by Omniscience for thosp 
who should be lost, it is furnished with all that inge- 
nuity which finite mind could devise for the exquisite 
and perpetual torture of human beings. Not only the 
souls, but the bodies of the damned are rendered death- 
less by miracle of a wrathful God. They can writhe for- 
ever in pain — but cannot die. These wretches, accord- 
ing to the same doctrine, were arbitrarily foreordained 
to this doom from all eternity, and are there " to illus- 
trate the wisdom and glory of an all-righteous God." 
The most curious productions of the human mind are to 
be found among the apologies for this doctrine, and in 
the anxious efforts of the earnest preachers to crown this 
horror with horrors still more terrible. Language is 
taxed to its uttermost to describe the literal lake of fire 
and sea of molten lead, through which course rivers of 
boiling oil and burning brimstone — the wails, the soul- 
distressing groans of those tormented day and night 
forever. 

Here the speaker minutely and vividly described 
Michael Angelo's picture of the "Last Judgment," 
which he pronounced more horribly impressive than any 
vision of Dante or Milton. That magnificent painting 
is but the expression of the old orthordox doctrine, of 
which we hear so little in this day of Bible light. 

The speaker, when a boy, heard a sermon that kept 
him awake at night, „and filled his mind with the most 
revolting conceptions of God. Hell was described as a 
great and horrible pit, thousands of miles deep — in fact, 
without any bottom ; and from the top edge of the gap- 
ing abyss, for many miles the surface of the walls was 



296 IS INHERE A HELL? 

smoother than slippery ice or glass. The sinners, in 
great multitudes, both old and young, were constantly 
falling over ; their brains and blood were portrayed 
upon the ugly rocks — their wild, wild shrieks of despair 
were even imitated, and the youthful soul was shocked 
and filled with amazement. The pavements of hell 
were described as covered with the skulls of little chil- 
dren. That last revelation furnished a troublesome 
problem for that awe-stricken child. How could such a 
doctrine be reconciled to the idea of a loving Father — a 
merciful and just God? How could a bottomless pit 
have any pavement ? And, furthermore, if the damned 
had deathless bodies, what were those little skulls doing 
strewn over the pavement? Those dark difficulties 
were never removed, and had the speaker never learned 
that such doctrine came not from God, but from the 
slavish superstition and ignorance of men — he had never 
entered the pulpit. Thank God! that doctrine is now 
obsolete ; and while a number of creeds substantially 
still retain it, yet few are the ministers that have the 
courage to stand under the clear sun and proclaim it to 
an enlightened people. 

Now, as we turn the pages of the Bible to learn con- 
cerning this or any subject we should remember that it 
is a book written in parables, types, symbols, figurative 
and poetic expression, that it is rich in the peculiar style 
of the Orient. Remembering this, we will be led to 
note how God and His Christ laid, under tribute every- 
thing under heaven to convey and enforce spiritual 
truth. There was nothing familiar to man that was 
not seized upon as the letters of an alphabet to express, 
to spell out and write for man the will of his God. And 



19 THERE A HELL? 297 

while the great cardinal truth of our holy religion was 
made to shine in light so clear and distinct that all must 
see it, who will only open their eyes and look ; yet 
there are doctrines hidden in Oriental symbolism and 
poetic figures which will escape us unless we patiently 
and intelligently study to find their intended burden. 
We propose then to get first the literal meaning of the 
words translated by the word hell in the Bible. The 
word in the Old Testament and its original Hebrew is 
Sheol. The exact synonym in the New Testament, and 
of course in the Greek, is Hades. These are both ren- 
dered hell. They mean literally, the under world — a sub- 
terranean place filled with darkness. They do not by 
any means necessarily designate a place of torment, or a 
hell of suffering — simply the under-world — the unseen — 
the place of darkness. Generally they are used either 
to denote the grave, or the place of the dead, that is the 
spirit world. In the 16th Psalm David sings in pro- 
phetic spirit of Christ, and says, " Thou wilt not leave 
my soul in (sheol) hell ; nor suffer thy Holy One to see 
corruption." Peter in Acts ii : 27, quotes this Psalm 
and applies it to Christ : '' Thou wilt not leave my soul 
in (hades) hell " We shrink with horror from the idea 
that the soul of the blessed Son of God was ever in the 
hell of torment. He was in the spirit world, He was 
among the dead ! In passing, it may be well to remind 
you that in the story of Dives — Luke xvi : 23, reads thus 
— *' And in ('hades,' the unseen world) hell he lifted up 
his eyes, being in torments." Job in speaking of this 
unseen world calls it '* The land of darkness and the 
shadow of death." There is another Greek word, 
" Gehenna" translated hell ; and we must also look to 



298 IS THERE A HELL? 

its litteral meaning. GeKenna means the valley of Hin- 
nom. Probably Hinnom was the name of a man. There 
Solomon once had one of his beautiful gardens, but the 
wise man in his shameful apostasy, afterward converted it 
into a place for the Ammonite idolatry. There he built 
a burning altar to Moloch, and in their woful degeneracy 
the people for a time offered human victims in the form 
of little children; the arms of the brazen image were 
hollow so fires could be built in them, and at white heat 
they consumed the bodies of their victims. When 
through fierce trials the Jews had been brought to re- 
pentance, they at last saw their conduct in all the enor- 
mity of its sin and shame. They learned to detest and 
loathe the very place of their idolatry. In time it be- 
came the boneyard of Jerusalem. It was a fearful and 
foul place — to Jewish minds, symbolizing all that is to 
be hated and dreaded. Fires were kept burning night 
and day forever to consume the carcasses of animals and 
the bodies of criminals. Kept as the keeper of such a 
place would keep it, fragments of the burned bodies, 
portions of the scattered and decaying entrails of ani- 
mals, with the corrupt debris of the city, furnished an 
everlasting carnival for the worms and vultures. So 
that an ancient historian says: "it was a place to be 
shunned on account of the horrible stench, the fierce fires, 
and the swarming worms." In the light of these facts 
we see new meanings in such words of Jesus, '' Where 
their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." 

After a long and prayerful study of this dark subject, 
we are bound to say that in the teaching of Christ we 
find no ground for the old doctrine of hell. The Savior 
seized upon the valley of Hinnom, — with its shame, its 



IS THERE A HELL? 299 

horror, its perpetual fires, and its greedy worms, — not 
to give a conception of a place, but a state or condition of 
man as the final and inevitable result of sin. It means 
shame, moral darkness, agony and despair. We teach 
that hell consists in that mournful darkness which re- 
sults from a banishment from the presence of the Lord 
and the glory of its power. It is negative, not positive. 
It is not by the arbitrary decree of an angry God who 
would inflict pain upon his creatures, but the natural 
end of sin. If then it be at last the awful lot of any of 
you to spend eternity in that outer darkness — in a hell 
of torment, understand you it will be because by sin you 
made a hell for yourself, and carried it with you. Says 
Christopher Marlowe — we do not adopt his sentiment in 
full: 

" When all the world dissolves, 
And every creature shall be purified, 
All places shall be hell, that are not heaven." 

Whether it be on the earth or under the earth, in 
heaven, or in the heart of man, it is the hell of darkness 
wherever God is not found. Milton truthfully sang : 

" He that hath light within his own clear breast 
May sit in the centre and enjoy bright day ; 
But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts, 
Benighted walks under the midday sun — 
Himself is his own dungeon." 



300 IS THERE A HELL? 

In conclusion, the speaker gave a strong argument to 
enforce the lesson that while the Son of God holds out 
all needful means of escape in this world — after death, it 
seems that a great gulf is forever fixed so that there may 
be no reasonable hope for the sinner ever to pass from 
that realm of night into the glorious light that shall be 
the portion of those who learn to love and serve God in 
the days of their earthly pilgrimage. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



ORGANIC UNION. 

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also who shall 
believe on me through their word ; that they all may be one, as 
thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they all may be one 
in us ; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. — 
John xvii : 20. 

We plead for the union of all Christians ! Please note 
the emphasis ; it is not the union of the " professors of 
religion," — of "religious denominations," or '^Chris- 
tian sects," but of all Christians; those who are simply 
and truly the followers of Jesus Christ. This plea is one 
of our most distinctive features. We claim it as charac- 
teristic, because, as a people, we contended for it through 
long years, when all other religious bodies in the land 
treated the subject either with ridicule or silent indif- 
ference. Now, it is among the most popular themes of 
the pulpit and the religious press ; and to-night millions 
recognize the truth that God's children should be united. 
The people have grown weary of division, heart-sick of 
bitter strife ; and the day seems already dawning when 
they may no longer be " cabined, cribbed, and confined" 
by the withering tenets of party. The light of the age 

and the spirit of our holy religion are leading all good 

(301) 



302 ORGANIC UNION. 

people up together upon a higher plane — around our 
great common Lord. That there is a union distinctly 
taught in the New Testament is now most generally con- 
ceded, rarely ever denied. A few, however, blind as 
moles in their burrows of ignorant prejudice, have the 
hardihood to say that union is impossible, and is not 
enjoined; and even pretend that the Bible permits — God 
wills that there should be divisions. In this they claim 
divine wisdom and goodness, ''since no two men can 
see things in precisely the same light ; therefore in the 
charity of the Gospel, God has graciously arranged to 
accommodate all." Again, division excites emulation. 
Competition is the well-spring of manly action ; it keeps 
the religious sea from stagnation ; and far more good is 
accomplished by the distributed forces of a divided 
church than there could be were they all merged into 
one peaceful body. The man that indulges in such false 
sophistry, fails to remember, or never knew, that the 
Church of Christ is a divine and perfect institution, and 
unlike the enterprises born of the finite mind. Its law 
and spirit are from heaven, and not from earth ! We do 
read in such works as Shakespeare of "emulous mis- 
sions 'mongst the Gods," and in Parker of the " wisdom 
in the license for numberless schools ;" but, in our Bible 
we find no countenance given to strife, confusion, and 
division. Hear the Ambassador of the Son of God in 
his earnest entreaty to the Corinthians, — to all Chris- 
tians : "I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, 
and that there be no division among you ; but that you 
be perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in 
the same judgment. 



ORGANIC UNION. 303 

Now, while admitting that union is taught, the greater 
part of the Protestant Christian people hold that the 
Savior and his Apostles meant a " spiritual, invisible 
union," composed of all parties. Moreover, many able 
thinkers teach that such a union has always existed, 
and does now bind the true body of Christ. Now, if you 
think at all upon the words, you must find that the 
theory, whatever it mean, is couched in vague and mys- 
terious language. That the masses comprehend the 
meaning I gravely doubt. This theory has been suffered 
long to pass unchallenged, and has now become as it 
were stereotyped. Nevertheless, we propose to examine 
it for ourselves, and, if possible, understand its hidden 
wisdom or unwisdom. We are informed that the word 
''spiritual" denotes something that relates to the spirit — 
the spirit of God and the spirit of man. By the spirit of 
man we mean that deathless something that thinks and 
feels. All we can know of this spirit in others is what it 
tells us in words and actions. 

''Invisible" is that which cannot be seen. By 
" union " we understand the state of being joined as one 
— an agreement — a harmony. Tell me, then, where is 
the evidence of a spiritual union of the people of God ? 
Is the evidence like the union — such that we must 
receive it upon the edict of dogmatism — being invisible? 
We must find somewhere the proof that Christians, 
although not united in one organic body, are bound by a 
oneness, an agreement — a harmony, at least in thought, 
in sympathy, in will, and in love ; or that, according to 
the Apostle, they are of one mind and one spirit. 

When 'we go out into the world we are confronted at 
once, and everywhere, with party names, — the exclusive 



304 ORGANIC UNION. 

shibboleths of numberless sects. Each church, each 
temple, each little chapel has some distinctive title on 
its front ; and in these very names alone we read a 
melancholy treatise upon division, strife, and confusion 
in the army of Christ. Perhaps someone will exclaim, 
'' Why, my dear sir ! do you not know that there is 
nothing in a name ; that churchmen may wear different 
names, and yet be perfectly united in mind and spirit !" 
No, I do not. On the contrary, I believe the time has 
come to treat that poetic expression as a poetic lie. A 
name stands for an object or thing; it is used in lan- 
guage as the substitute or representative of the object, 
and a name is important just in the degree that the thing 
represented is important. What, then, means this 
diversity of names ? It means a diversity of things and 
interests. Here the speaker illustrated humorously the 
importance attached to a name by the case of a newly- 
married couple, in which the groom wanted to be un- 
married because the bride persisted in the refusal to 
wear her husband's name. Also, by the supposition 
that the names of all the houses of worship in this city 
should some night, by miracle, be changed. The peo- 
ple forget the old paths, and each one starts out to find 
"our church." May be, the Methodist brethren would 
happen to come here. It would be a cheery sight to see 
them so happy under their own fancied fig tree. They 
would think that the discourse on the glories of Messiah 
a good old-fashioned Methodist sermon. Indeed, but 
few are so educated in the science of theology, and in 
the differentia of creeds, as to be able soon to discover 
whether, as Ephraimites, we pronounced the pass-word 
"Sibboleth," or, as Gileadites, "Shibboleth!" 



ORGANIC UNION. 305 

It would consume all our time to enumerate in detail 
the many evidences of division, and even of bitter strife 
in thought, word, doctrine, and theory, filling the re- 
ligious world with confusing and uncertain sounds. 
Churches, schools, books, periodicals and papers, — 
everywhere antagonistic in their teaching, — show that 
God's people are not of one mind ; they do not speak 
the same thing, and how can they be said to live in a 
spiritual union ? As to love and genuine charity, the 
songs and the sermons sometimes, by their eloquence 
and beauty on extra occasions, cause us to exclaim, 
" How sweet, how heavenly is the sight !" But who is 
so ignorant as not to know that partisan jealousy is the 
rankest plant in our garden ? Especially among one- 
ideaed clergymen has party spirit grown to be a huge 
upas-tree, whose very pestilential breath poisons the 
religious atmosphere, and withers every noble attempt 
to unite the army of Israel. 

Truly may we exclaim, the union is invisible ! There 
is no union — let us face the sad fact — spiritual or organic. 
And now let us look for light in the Word of God. Who 
can imagine the denominational walls, party lines of any 
kind whatever between God and Jesus; who can con- 
ceive the barriers separating Christ from his followers ! 
Let him read the Savior's prayer, and then the eighth 
chapter of Romans. God and the Son are one in nature 
(so far as nature maybe affirmed of Deity), one in spirit, 
thought, will and work ; and the Redeemer prayed that 
all his disciples, those then living and those who should 
yet be born, might so be one. If there then be a union, 
it must evince itself by somewhat of the same love and 

harmony that exists between the Father and the Son — 
20 



306 OEGANIC UNION. 

between Jesus and his first disciples. Whenever there 
shall be even the distant approach to such a sweet and 
intimate union, such a oneness of mind, of speech, of 
heart and aim, then division will die. The loving chil- 
dren cannot be kept apart by bannered walls. There 
must be a courtship and a marriage. Oh ! then the bells, 
the great bells and the little bells, which now peal out 
their selfish discords, will grandly chime together the 
glorious wedding march. 

The Bible teaches that all Christians should be in an 
organic union. The Church is figuratively represented 
as a body ; and it is expressly stated that there is " one 
body," and that too in distinction from one spirit which 
animates the body. Christ alone is the head, and all 
individual Christians are members. There is one Shep- 
herd and one fold ! There is one King and one King- 
dom ! It is not described as a petty limited monarchy, 
with no territory, and no positive organization ; but an 
absolute monarchy, in the best sense, — a despotism, 
having millions of subjects, a fixed constitution, and an 
all-sufficient statute-book. Again, Jesus, speaking to 
his followers, says: "I am the true vine — ye are the 
branches." You cannot find the passage where the 
great Master ever spoke of the diff'erent ''branches of 
the Church." Each lowly disciple can thank God for 
this honor — that he belongs to no branch church, but is 
himself a branch of the great life-giving vine. 

Finally, the Church is represented as the betrothed 
Bride of the Lamb. There is only one groom and one 
bride. The beautiful creature will be as one body in 
heaven ; and surely, if we can understand His language, 
she should not be divided upon the earth. All who love 



ORGANIC UNION. 307 

and fear our Lord ought to stand united', for His sake, 
for our own sake, and for the sake of the dying world. 
Listen to-night to him tearfully pleading, "that they 
all may be one, — that the world may believe that Thou 
hast sent me." This, as a prayer of Him who was God 
manifest in the flesh, was an expression of divine will 
and may be regarded as a prophecy. Upon its fulfil- 
ment, more than all else, depends now the salvation of 
this ruined and lost world. With intense earnestness 
can we say Amen ! to the memorable words of Wesley, 
" Would to God that all party names were forgot, and 
that we, as humble, loving brethren, might sit down to- 
gether at the Master's feet, read his Holy Word, imbibe 
His spirit, and transcribe His life in our own." 

What tremendous influence a united Church would 
speedily have upon the world no mortal could foretell. 
With non-essentials all ignored, human opinions and 
theories held in abeyance every pulpit and every fire- 
side in Israel lighted with the blazing glory of the cross, 
the Church would appear as if suddenly wakened from 
the dead, and the powers of sin and darkness would 
tremble. All the Christian men and women standing 
panoplied in the living forces of a living religion, speak- 
ing the same thing, moved by the same spirit, the places 
of iniquity and death would be closed, the mouths of 
gainsayers be stopped, and thousands who now sit in 
the seat of the scornful would soon be brought in peni- 
tence to the Savior. Then would be proclaimed around 
the earth to all them that sit in darkness the great 
Gospel of light and liberty. 

Would you have some feeble notion of what might be 
done, watch the silent but ever onward and restless 



308 ORGANIC UNION. 

march of the admirably organized army of Rome. Let 
us be warned in time — unless those who recognize Jesus 
as the only King, and who take the Bible as the revela- 
tion of God's will — unite, ere long our country shall in- 
evitably be the divided territory of Romanism and (so- 
called) Rationalism. Already they seem steadily and 
unopposed moving up to possess the land. The Protes- 
tant army is all divided, and each petty band of troops 
occupied in building up and defending its own stormed 
and crumbling fort. The time has come when the 
Church, in one grand consolidated column, should move 
in aggressive war, and prove herself terrible as an army 
with the banners of God. 

Some man will ask, " If such a union be taught, how 
can it ever be brought about?" There are I believe 
about eighty different religious parties in the United 
States. Suppose, then, deeply impressed with the 
solemn necessity of combining all the Christian forces 
into one grand army, each of these parties should send 
her most prudent and devout men to a great Congress 
of the Church. The purpose of the Convention is to 
determine how to unite all the followers of Christ in 
one organic body. I think that the angels would hover 
over and around that meeting. Millions of good men 
and women at home would be kneeling in prayer — re- 
peating the Savior's own petition to the Father. 

The men assembled in that Congress are mindful that 
they are God's men come together for a holy purpose. 
They are not swayed by partisan motives, but by the 
love of Christ and of humanity. They will not waste 
time in idle gasconade, or in passing sugar words to and 
fro. They feel that they must fight through a season of 



ORGANIC UNION. 309 

storm and battle before the grand object is accomplished 
and sternly will they frown down any mere personal 
considerations. Remorselessly will they cut to the right 
and the left, lopping off everythiDg not essential to sal- 
vation. The fiery and awful earnestness of Paul, of 
Luther, Wesley, Knox and Chalmers, will prevade their 
grand efforts, as one after another unfolds his own con- 
ceited nlan. Without hesitation, and only in 

Phrases such as camps may teach 
Sabre cuts of Saxon speech, 

will each and every proposition be discussed. 

As to their probable conclusion, we can boldly pre- 
dict this much. Upon no creed made by man will that 
Convention ever unite, and no party name can they ever 
adopt ! It would not be long before the Convention 
would so unanimously resolve. At last, some man will 
rise and propose that, forgetting all else, leaving all else 
behind, and beginning anew, let us takej,he Bible, noth- 
ing more, nothing less, as our sole authority in relig- 
ious instruction ; as containing the all-sufficient rule of 
faith and practice. Let us have no other test of fellow- 
shij) but faith in Christ the Savior and obedience to his 
unmistakable commandments. If ever at all in time 
God's children unite, this proposition substantially must 
inevitably be the very first they adopt. Should it be 
desirable to have something more compressed and spec- 
ific as a bond of union, such a bond would be given by 
the Apostle Paul, in the fourth chapter of the Ephesians. 
Let us read it : 

1. ''There is one God and Father of all." Of course 
every one accepts that as a fundamental truth. 



310 ORGANIC UNION. 

2. "There is one Lord," Jesus the Messiah, the Son 
of the living God, the Savior of the world. Reject that 
and there would be nothing left. Unless that proposi- 
tion be true, there is really no such thing as religion at 
all. All men are logically shut up to it. 

3. '^ There is one Spirit," the Holy Spirit — the gift of 
which every Christian claims. 

4. " There is one Faith " — indisputably the simple 
faith of the Gospel of Jesus. Thousands were made 
Christians without any knowledge of Moses ; and before 
the letters of Paul or even the Gospels according to 
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, were ever written. 
But no man ever became a Christian without accepting 
the Gospel which the Son of God commanded to be 
preached to every creature in all the earth. 

5. " One Hope," the precious hope of everlasting life. 

6. " One Baptism," immersion in water, into the 
name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. His- 
tory declares unequivocally that the Roman Catholic 
Church (and so says the Pope) originated Baptism by 
sprinkling, and Protestantism there borrowed it. The 
united Church can only practice as in the first age — im- 
mersion. 

And now what next? V/hy, Paul says there is : 

7. '' One Body." God speed the day, and let us live 
to see it, when the happy Church shall thus stand in 
power, and shall unitedly battle to conquer the sinful 
world in Christ's name. 

Beloved, have you never thought u^Don the beautiful 
way of the waters in Nature, how they work, and in 
what sweet harmony bless the world ? If we climb the 



ORGANIC UNION. 311 

mountain side we see the little spring giving drink to 
deer and bird, to the shepherd and his flock, hut seem- 
ingly nothing wasted, it dances down in the brook, to 
make green the meadow and cherish the life of the farm- 
er's herd. We follow it on in the creek where it 
unites with many other springs and brooklets to turn 
the old water mill that saws the lumber and grinds the 
corn. Soon we find it poured into the smaller river, 
bearing the tug and raft, and making beautiful the land- 
scape. At last, behold the tireless thing of life and 
good, sweeping on in the great, deep, broad river proudly 
bearing upon its bosom the gigantic ship or mighty 
steamer burdened with the riches of commerce, and hun- 
dreds of human beings. Thus should it be with Chris- 
tian love ! We would not do away with the little log 
church far out in the wild forest; we would not tear 
down one white-spired temple in the village, nor take 
one stone from the splendid and massive edifices of the 
city. Let them stand. The army will need more than 
we have. But let the congregations begin to flow out- 
ward ; to give away somewhat of their unusued and 
stagnating love to the great brotherhood — to the perish- 
ing world ! Let them carry their constantly accumulat- 
ing forces, pouring together brook after brook, river 
after river, into one mighty rolling stream, which shall 
be able to bear the Gospel ships down to the sea, and 
away to every land beneath the sun. 

The petition of the Son of God will yet be granted — it 
must be answered. , Then the great cities of the world — 
the valleys of Montezuma — the jungles of Africa — the 
gardens of China and Japan, yea, even the far distant 
islands of the sea, shall all be made glad, and will join 



312 OEGANIC UNION. 

to swell the anthem of the angels : Glory to God in the 
Highest, on earth peace and good will to men ! Then 
Christ shall have the heathen for his inheritance, and 
the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession : 

" The shouts of jubilee, 

Loud as mighty thunders roar ; 
Or the fullness of the sea, 
When it breaks upon the shore, 
Shall yet be heard the wide world o'er ! " 



CHAPTER XIX. 



THANKSGIVING ADDRESS. 

[Union Services at the Central Christian Church, St. Louis, 
November 25, 1881.] 

"Ezra opened the book in sight of all the people, and when 
he opened it all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed the 
Lord the great God, and all the people answered. Amen ! 
Amen ! All the people wept when they heard the words of the 
law. Then he said, " Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the 
sweet, and send portions to them for whom nothing is pre- 
pared ; for this day is holy unto our Lord ; neither be ye sorry, 
for the joy of the Lord is your strength. "—Nehemiah viii : 5, 10. 

History informs us that the winter in Massachusetts 
two hundred and fifty years ago, was one of bitter and 
terrible cold. The clothing and dwellings of the settlers 
were insufficient for the severe climate. Famine followed 
disease, and hundreds of the colony died. The poor 
people were all compelled to live on shell fish, ground 
nuts and acorns. The sturdy old Governor himself 
lived on parched corn, and at one time '' he had his last 
grain of corn in the oven." 

A day of fasting and prayer for the Colony was 
appointed for Febuary 6th, but on the morning of the 
5th, a ship unexpectedly arrived from England, well 

(313) 



314 THANKSGIVING ADDRESS. 

laden with provisions, and the solemn day of fasting was 
changed to the gladsome Thanksgiving Day. This 
sweet old custom, then, is not an idle formality estab- 
lished by the will of mere arbitrary ecclesiastic govern- 
ment ; it is a natural growth from a bitter soil ; the plant 
that came from the seed of deep trust in God, suddenly 
developed even to blossoms by the joy and love of grate- 
ful men and women. 

The orioles and robins are wont to hail the first blush 
of dawn with songs of stirring melody ; they cannot help 
it. They are so glad to get out of the gloom of night 
into the light of day that they have to sing. They sing 
God's praise with tumultuous delight, which seems at 
times about to split their little throats. It is not so with 
all creatures. Pigs, (and some people might find their 
striking analogue in the pig !) greedily devour the apples 
on the orchard ground, but never look up the tree from 
which they fall. It is in the nature of the poor brutes 
to munch the fruit, to grunt and squeal for more ; but 
they do not think and talk about apples ; they sing no 
song of praise, and it is not in their nature to feel grate- 
ful and give thanks. 

A popular American writer declares that " there is 
very much pig in human nature," a,nd still we know 
that swinishness is not characteristic of man's normal and 
native disposition. He is a creature of much higher 
order, the highest being on the earth. With his heaven 
erected face he is given a m-ind to think and a soul to 
feel. While he eats to live, and enjoys the luscious flavor 
of the apple and the grape ; he thinks of and admires 
the tree and vine ; he considers the elements that enter 
into their growth, and thoughtfully looks up to the far 



THANKSGIVING ADDRESS. 315 

away sun which ripens the beautiful fruit, and thence 
far away again, '''■ from nature up to nature's God !" 

Since we have mentioned apples and the sun, we are 
reminded of the searching human intelligence which, in 
Newton, watched the apple fall to the ground ; curiously 
wondering what made it do so ; and at last discovered the 
law of that power which not only pulls down the ripe 
apples, but holds the sun in its place, and propels it 
forever onward over its sublime highway among the 
stars. 

This is the force by which everything in the physical 
world is drawn towards every other thing, and all toward 
one great common center. Things about the earth are all 
attracted in a direction toward the center of the earth ; 
the earth itself, the moon and many stars are drawn 
toward the sun ; the sun and his planets are dragged 
through the immensities of space toward Alcyone in the 
Pleiades, probably the central point of the whole sidereal 
system. Job says, ''Canst thou bind the sweet influ- 
ences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion ?" Strange 
words spoken in the black tent on the field of Idumea ! 
Possibly, who knows ! it is there in the Pleiades that 
God personally dwells in his eternal home, the house of 
many mansions. Now, there is a spiritual world ; and 
the mind has recognized the existence of a spiritual force 
corresponding to, similar in phenomena to the physical 
ill the material world. It is that mysterious force which 
draws the human spirit up toward a great unseen central 
power. When man is steeped in ignorance this natural 
drawing makes him what we call superstitious ; when he 
has soul-helping knowledge it makes him religious. 
From this felt force pulling forever at him and in him, 



316 THANKSGIVING ADDRESS. 

man through the ages, has believed that there must be, 
that there is somewhere high up in the universe, one 
supreme and awful source of all power, the omnipotence 
which draws the sun, and draws the soul ! 

You have read how the mist is often seen rising from 
the ocean in great white columns, and then gliding away 
in lustrous streamers up the sky. The sailors call it ''the 
sun drawing up water for the heavens," As it is carried 
up, the water is purified and beautified ; and while it 
does adorn the sky with banners of red, orange, yellow, 
green, blue, indigo and violet, it is not drawn for sun or 
sky, it is lifted up that it may descend in refreshing 
showers upon the earth. So, in some respects with the 
invisible power which silently draws up the thoughts, 
feelings and aspirations of men ; not for the sake of the 
Almighty Power, but that the spirits of men may be 
made pure and beautiful and joyous ; and that they 
being blest may make brighter and better the world. 
And men have always had either dim and vague, or dis- 
tinct and vivid conceptions of that mysterious power as 
the infinite Jehovah of revelation, or the great unknown 
God in whom we live and move and have our being. 
That there is a God no nation has ever doubted. 

Reliable history now takes us back through near four 
thousand years; and in Egypt, India, China, every- 
where the people were impressed with this truth in some 
form. The fact is you might destroy the Bible, and 
wipe out the records of history, but you could never ex- 
tinguish in the human soul the luminous thought, the 
vital, intuitive belief, God is ! Inseparable from this 
untaught belief, or rather involved in this universal 
consensus of belief in the existence of Deity, is the 



THANKSGIVING ADDRESS. 317 

belief that God is in the world, that God reigns over all 
on the earth, in the earth, under the earth and above the 
earth. This earth is no abandoned outpost of the uni- 
verse left to chance, or left to take care of itself. 

History and the Bible teach that God rules among 
men ; that he really commands and directs the march of 
nations. "God changes the times and seasons; he 
removeth kings and setteth up kings." '' He maketh 
his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth 
rain on the just and the unjust." ''He giveth seed 
time and harvest. — 

" All that God owns, he constantly is healing ; 
He helps the lowliest herb, with wounded stalk, to rise again. 
In the storehouse of wealthy nature, 
A ready instinct wakes and moves 
To clothe the naked sparrow in its nest, 
Or trim the plumage of the aged raven. 
In the slow decaying of the rose, 
God works, as well as in the unfolding bud — 
With gentleness unspeakable ; yea, in death itself 
A thousand times more tender, than even 
The mother watching by her sick child." 

If there is any one thing indisputably taught in the 
Bible it is the old fashioned doctrine of Divine Provi- 
dence ; the doctrine which holds that God actually 
watches over, superintends and cares for individuals, 
families and nations ; that all are absolutely dependent 
upon him ; that it is he who determines the conditions 
of continued existence, safety and happiness ; prescribes 
the perfect underlying principles of all wise human 
government; that he is pledged to hear and to answer 
the cry of all who keep his law, and put their trust in 



318 THANKSGIVING ADDRESS. 

him ; and has made known, not as a cruel and arbitrary 
decree, but as the inevitable effect of an adequate cause 
the awful fact that, '' the wicked shall be turned into 
hell, and all the nations that forget God," If injSdelity 
could successfully assail and refute this old doctrine of 
special and general Providence, it would easily drive 
the friends of the Bible from every field that the sun 
shines on. Somehow I can feel but little respect for the 
judicial opinion of the man who repudiates this charac- 
teristic doctrine, and yet professes to hold on to the Chris- 
tian religion. Indeed, I have more admiration for the 
logic of that sable preacher in Richmond, Va., who dares 
stand before the world and stoutly insists that, " the sun 
do move round de earth!" Christian men must not, 
cannot lose sight ever of that comprehensive statement 
of the doctrine of Divine Providence, — God Reigns ! 
and we may confidently predict that this will be the 
great guiding star truth of coming church and political 
life for the nations yet to be born. 

We have in the Hebrew Scriptures a marvelous and 
most awfully instructive portrayal of God's dealing with 
the chosen people. The Jewish nation was confessedly 
of divine foundation, and a firm trust in the providence 
of Jehovah was in Judea, the central principle of na- 
tional existence. So long as the Jews trusted in their 
God and obeyed his law, it was well with them ! but 
v/hen they became godless and disobedient, they were 
allowed to be carried into captivity; when they became 
corrupt and torn by strife; when they rejected the 
counsel of God in refusing to have his Son rule over 
them, then a sorrowful doom fell upon their whole land, 
they soon ceased to be a soverign nation, and the king- 



THANKSGIVING ADDRESS. ■ 319 

less people passed out from the gates of the immortal 
city and have never been able to return. 

1 earnestly believe that the representation in the Old 
Testament is of universal application. It is a lesson 
and a warning for all nations in all time. It is no special 
treaties on experimental government for a peculiar and 
exclusive nation ; but it is the revelation of the relation of 
the human race to God, and the expression of his perfect 
and immutable law for all nations. " Whatsoever things 
were written aforetime, were written for our instruction." 
According to the same principles on which God dealt 
with the Jews, will he certainly deal with this nation. 

Lord Beaconsfield has left on record these remarkable 
words: ''It may be observed that the decline and 
disasters in communities have generally been relative to 
their degree of sedition against the Jewish principle. 
England notwithstanding her deficient and meagre 
theology, has always remembered Zion. The great 
trans-Atlantic Republic, the United States, is intensely 
Semitic, and has prospered accordingly." We must turn 
again to hear the law of God. Our souls must stand 
up reverently to listen to it. We must hold again the 
old faith, cherish somewhat of the old wholesome fear of 
the Lord, if we would have a real reformation in family, 
church and state, which will go down to the roots of 
life, changing it from a sinful and self-seeking life, into 
a life of humiliiy, purity, love and obedience, giving 
nobleness to our policy, our literature and art. There 
are thousands, it may be millions of men to-day who 
need to have thundered in their ears that this land 
is, in no mere poetic and secondary sense, but in the 
primary and real sense of the words, God's country ! 



320 THANKSGIVING ADDRESS. 

In tears and blood this nation was baptized, and conse- 
crated by our forefathers, to be a Protestant Christian 
Kepublic. From the day that Columbus threw himself 
upon his knees, kissed the soil, and with tears of joy 
gave thanks to God for guiding him to this new world — 
on through all the trials of the early settlers, there was 
ever the most devout recognition of the righteous claims 
of the Supreme Ruler. Every enterprise was begun and 
carried on, in prayer for the blessing of God. This was 
not formal or affected, it was in solemn earnest. In the 
first colonies, only the men who were members of the 
church, and were ready to give their lives for their 
country, for freedom and righteousness were allowed to 
vote in civil affairs, or to hold any office. I do not 
recall this for our full approval, or as our fit exact model, 
but to demonstrate what was the real origin, spirit and 
calling of the Republic. 

In the most critical hour in the memorable conven- 
tion of the representatives of the people, at Philadelphia, 
Benjamin Franklin arose and said: "We have been 
told in the sacred writings, that ' except the Lord build 
the house, they labor in vain that build it ' : I firmly 
believe this, and I also firmly believe that Avithout His 
concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political build- 
ing no better than the builders of Babel. We shall be 
divided by our little partial, local interests ; our projects 
will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a 
reproach and a by-word down to future ages." 

The reverse of the device for the great seal of the 
United States, which was adopted by the Continental 
Congress in 1782, and confirmed by the new Congress 
under the Constitution of 1789, represents a truncated 



THANKSGIVING ADDRESS. 321 

pyramid which covers a vast expanse of sea girt land. 
On its broad base is the immortal date, 1776. Above it 
rise the thirteen courses which represent the old thir- 
teen States ; and far above, with vacant space for all 
the new ones that have been and are yet to be added, 
like a cap-stone appears the ancient triangular symbol 
of the Deity, with the large, open, sleepless eye, sur- 
rounded by rays of light and glory. Encircling all is the 
legend, ^^ Annuit cceptis novus ordo scECulorum,^^ which 
freely translated means, " The new order of the ages 
smiles upon our undertakings." That pyramid is still 
rising and unfinished, and above its multiplied courses 
the All seeing eye looks down from the glory upon the 
builders and the structure, watching how we build it up 
in this new order of the ages. 

Washington said in his first inaugural address : " No 
people can be bound to adore the hand which conducts 
the affairs of men, more than the people of the United 
States," And said Jefferson at the close of his inau- 
gural, ''I shall need, too, the favor of that Being, in 
whose hands we all are ; who led our fathers, as he did 
Israel of old, from their native land, and planted them 
in a country flowing with all the comforts and necessa- 
ries of life, who has covered our infancy with his prov- 
idence, and our riper years with his wisdom and power, 
and to whose goodness I ask you to join in supplication 
with me." In his inaugurals, with what solemn and 
lofty speech did President Lincoln recognize the nation's 
dependence upon Him who will establish righteousness 
upon the earth, " whose judgments are righteous and 
just !" I wish you to note that Washington and Jeff'er- 
son, and especially the great Lincoln revered and loved 



322 THANKSGIVING ADDRESS. 

the Bible. How he loved to read the Book of books, 
and how firmly he believed that God was with him 
to giiide and help, is matter of history. One of our 
country's dear treasures is the cheap and common print 
of the picture of that glorious man sitting with the open 
Bible upon his knee. 

And what of our warrior chief, still living, and to 
whom the peoples of earth have shown more honor than 
to any other man in history ! In his speech to the 
American Sunday schools during the Centennial Exposi- 
tion, Gen. Grant said, " Hold fast to the Bible as the 
sheet-anchor of your liberties, write its precepts in your 
hearts, and practice them in your lives. To the influ- 
ence of this book are we indebted for ail the progress 
made in true civilization, and to this we must look as 
our guide in the future. Let us remember that the Bible 
is not the scaffolding of the temple of liberty, to be 
thrown aside as useless lumber, but that it is built into 
the whole edifice, from corner-stone and foundation to 
the majestic figure that crowns its dome. And when, if 
ever, this Book shall cease to be the book of the people, 
not a stone of that temple will be left upon another, and 
our capitol will be as desolate as the once fair city of 
the Great King." 

With such an array of authority on our side of the 
question we may boldly assert that this Nation was 
founded and grew up by the blessing of God, as a repub- 
lic of Christian people. And such it must continue to 
be, or perish ! That such it has remained through all 
the years in its essential genius and principles, is a 
great cause for profound gratitude and thanksgiving to 
Almighty God. Despite all our ills, and our many 



THANKSGIVING ADDRESS. 323 

shortcomings as a people, despite our unminclfulness of 
his law, he has been very patient with us, and has led 
us on and up in our high calling among the nations of 
earth. As a people we have been strangely blessed. In 
carrying out his far-reaching purpose concerning this 
nation, God has not dealt with us according to our 
deserts ; for the time he has overlooked our sins, and it 
would require a long day to tell over the favors and 
mercies which have come from his beneficent care. But, 
while we have in his unmerited goodness superabundant 
cause for thanksgiving, we have to-day no ground for 
self-complacency, no reason for vain glory and idle 
boasting. 

We have appalling cause for sober thought, for alarm' 
and anxious concern as we contemplate the present, and 
look to the future, and our gratitude if it be thoughtful 
p,nd sincere, must lead to humility of spirit and reforma- 
tion of life. 

When the men of Israel heard the law read, when 
they thought of the goodness of God, and remembered 
their sins, they wept! 

A storm of black clouds, lurid lightning and bitter 
rain has but recently swept over our land ; the days 
following were, and even yet are veiled with black crape ; 
but, our atmosphere is already purer, our eyes are 
clearer, and we have grown to be a wiser, humbler, safer 
people. 

By reason of suffering, peril and great horror, the 
people have been suddenly delivered from the benumbing 
influence of mad passion, sectional strife, and selfish in- 
difl'erence ; and they seem to have waked up to a nobler 
conception of civic and religious duty. 



324 THANKSGIVING ADDRESS. 

The admiration and sympathy of foreign nations 
taught us to hold more dear our own great country. In- 
deed, all things have combined to superinduce more 
exalted conceptions of our privileges, and our responsi- 
bilities as free citizens. In this connection it may seem 
to you out of season, but I regard it opportune to remind 
you of a few points worthy the sober consideration of 
every man and woman in the United States. The church 
for long years, has been short-sighted, inconsistent, and 
unfaithful in its attitude and conduct toward the country. 
Chiistians, if not generally, then in very large numbers, 
have seen fit to stand aloof from all political aflPairs ; 
have declined to take any active leading interest in the 
elections ; often actually presuming to treat the freeman's 
vote — a thing of immense possibilities for good or evil — 
as a worthless thing, a foul and polluting thing. 

A venerable bishop is reported as recently saying in 
convention, " I am opposed to letting woman vote, 
because the ballot would soil and stain her white 
hands." If that be the weighty argument against female 
suffrage, then I would reply, God speed the day when 
woman may have the ballot ! for she would never rest 
content, until she had washed it, and made the ballot as 
clean and white and pure as the beautiful linen of her 
own bridal trousseau ! Write me down, for one, as delib- 
erately, thoroughly, and strenuously forever in favor of 
female suffrage, and if need be, I would gladly open the 
churches of the land on election day as the place of 
polls for American men and women. That w^ould be, 
but to give to those edifices another noble and sacred 
purpose ; and all the more stoutly assert the right and 
necessity of their existence. While the Christian relig- 



THANKSGIVING ADDRESS, 325 

ion inculcates universal philanthropy, it does not depre- 
ciate patriotism. The Jews loved their native land. They 
could Dot sing the glad songs of Zion while in captivity ; 
and God smiled upon the wild exultant joy they had over 
their return. Jesus himself loved with human tender- 
ness the vine-clad hills and valleys of Judea ; and he 
wept over Jerusalem as he contemplated her coming 
desolation. Why, the whole Bible clothes patriotism 
with dignity and sancity ! And yet how often do we 
hear such miserable jargon in holy-tone cant, as, '' Pol- 
itics is one thing, Religion is another ; keep Christ in 
• the pulpit, and out of all secular affairs." Our fore- 
fathers in their intolerant extreme confined politics to 
the church, and at first refused to allow "the unbe- 
liever" to have any part or lot in the matter ; but, in 
our generation there is a tendency to the opposite dan- 
gerous extreme. Now, sublimated sanctimony would 
exclude political concerns from the church ; and does 
actually discourage the dear, pious, unworldly member 
from ever going near the primaries, or the'polls — disre- 
putable places. 

I happened to ask a distinguished clergyman last 
summer, ''With which political party do you vote?" 
'' Neither Sir ! I am a minister of the Gospel ; I never 
did vote, and I take no interest in politics !" and as he 
answered he cast me a look of infinite superiority and 
would be withering reproach. It was only his white 
head, not his white cravat, that restrained me from 
hotly retorting, ''then God help you sir; for such a 
man is not fit to teach the people, and not fit to live in 
this good land!" The best Christian ought to be the 
best citizen ; and no man is a worthy citizen who does 



326 THANKSGIVING ADDRESS. 

not love his country, and who does not look upon his 
vote as a thing of inestimable value. If there be no 
other way to recall the people from this political indif- 
ference and neglect, I would advocate the passage of 
a national law to correct it. Every preacher, priest, 
teacher, lawyer, doctor, merchant, every citizen that 
wilfully neglected to cast in his vote at every election, 
should be adjudged guilty of public offence, with pen- 
alty of fine of one hundred dollars, or imprisonment for 
thirty days ! It is asserted in public print, that your 
great city is to-day ruled by the very worst class of 
people in it. If this be so, why is it so ? Undoubtedly 
because many Christians are too unworldly, and multi- 
tudes of merchants are too selfishly busy to bother with 
political affairs, and they shamefully fail to do their 
manly duty, 

*' The careless trust that happy luck 
Will save us; 
Come what may !" 

Take care, fellow citizens, lest your own supineness 
and blind folly hurry on the day when your streets 
will have to be swept with the hail of Gatling guns ; 
when it will cost your time and money, possibly your 
lives to restore peace and order ! 

Again, another matter vitally essential to the public 
welfare, is the exercise of real and formal reverence for 
things that have been treated as sacred by the wise and 
good from the beginning of our history. This genera- 
tion seems in danger of losing altogether the sense and 
habit of veneration, courtesy, civility and chivalric po- 
liteness. Our average young man is so full of the 



THANKSGIVING ADDRESS. 327 

Declaration of Independence ; he has seen and heard so 
much; his sensibilities have been so blunted by fast 
and sinful experience, by familiarity with reckless and 
impious conduct, that few things can startle or appal 
him, and he has but a dim impression of what is due 
superior and sacred things. Indeed, we are inclined to 
suspect that young America would pride himself upon 
remaining seated with his slouch hat on in the presence 
of Queen Victoria, of our President, or if possible even 
in the immediate august presence of the Deity himself. 

We need strong and severe instruction on this subject. 
The wise patriot must be anxious to see growing ever in- 
creasingly among the people solemn respect for the 
Bible, and at least a decorous observance of that " pearl 
of days," the Lord's day. President John Adams often 
and eloquently urged this upon his countrymen as a 
necessity to the safety and perpetuity of the Republic. 

While we can never, and should never dictate how 
men shall spend Sunday, society has the indisputable 
right to say how men shall not spend it ; yea, society 
is bound to protect itself by the most rigid, moral, sani- 
tary and precautionary measures. A Despotism may 
possibly be indifferent to morals, but a Republic cannot 
be and live ! Love of country, love of the old city, love 
of home and wife and children, love of the right, all 
should persuade you every one to lend helpful support 
to those dear brave women who " have set their faces as 
flint" in the struggle to secure a strict enforcement of 
the Sunday laws in St. Louis. You should deem it 
another great cause for thanksgiving that you have 
women of such courage and wise solicitude for the pub- 
lic weal in your midst. '' Sunday in Europe " may be a 



328 ' I^HANKSGIVING ADDBESS. 

seemly and innocent thing in the haunts of tyranny, 
ignorance, poverty, degradation, tears and despair, but 
neath our blue sky, in our sweet sunshine, in this new 
world of Hope, the " Beer garden service," is an insult, 
a shame and a curse, and all true Americans should rise 
up in wrath and might to put it down once for all and 
forever ! The hour will not permit, or I would be glad 
to discourse on several points that must be considered 
elementary subjects in any discussion of political patho- 
logy. Reverence due to parents, and due the aged ; and 
especially the profound reverence due to the institution 
of marriage, which is 'perhaps less sacred than no other 
one thing out of heai^en. 

As we read the story of our ancestors, we are deeply 
impressed by the evidence of their fidelity, their chas- 
tity, and their gallant manly bearing in all their rela- 
tions with woman. Noble, proud princes, they, more 
than any other set of men that ever lived, taught woman 
to hold herself a queen. Their deportment was charac- 
terized by the most delicate consideration, the most 
ceremonious and genuine gallantry ; 

In those primeval days, '^ holy wife taking" was the 
goal of fond ambition on the part of the young men ; and 
strange as it may seem to you in 1881, the young women 
were not too timid and frail to accept their lovers with- 
out money and without price, go with them to the altar; 
and then perchance, to a log cabin and begin at the very 
foundation to build up a sweet home in the world. And 
those women were not afraid, not ashamed of children ! 
Mark that ! What families the old-fashioned folks used 
to have ; ten or twelve boys and girls was a common 
number, and even fifteen was not thought to be any 



THANKSGIVING ADDRESS. 329 

Cause for amazement. We are proud of and thankful 
for those sturdy and pure and loving foreparents ; but 
are the children worthy of their sires? In the effort to 
give answer we are confronted here by facts, which are 
causes for shame and grave apprehension. For me to 
speak as plainly as may be I ought to speak, would be 
like uncapping hell itself, and causing you to walk 
through the sulphurous wards of the infernal prison. 
There is upon the bosom of society a horrid cancer' 
which threatens to eat down to and through the very 
vitals ; a rank and huge upas tree of pestilential breath 
has grown up in the midst of the people, and there is 
serious danger of it blasting our nation as it blasted even 
the great Roman Republic. 

The fashionable young man of this period is not a 
marrying man ; he informs you that he does not want to 
marry and cannot afford to marry. 

Base, selfish, sensual views of the relation of man and 
woman have eclipsed the right and ennobling idea of 
man and his helpmate. 

Alas ! and it cannot be denied that woman herself too 
often helps place the wreath of orange blossoms in the 
dust, or hang it on the walls among the '' faded relics 
of Puritanism and superstition." 

You have probably anticipated what must be my last 
point this morning : 

We need as individuals and as a people to cultivate and 
cherish far more reverence for those in authority over 
us ; and especially for the honored citizen who is called 
by the people to sustain the executive majesty of the 
nation, to hold the balance of power, and wield the sword 
of justice. This is a thought that was suggested to millions 



330 THANKSGIVING ADDRESS. 

of minds when our great immortal chief lay facing death 
at Elberon. We all know too well without being told, 
what it was that struck down the man of men, our Gar- 
field, the country's dear hope, the admiration even of 
the peoples beyond the ocean ! It was the shameful, 
truthless, unjust and disloyal talk steeped in the caustic 
venom of party malice. The public press, public men, 
the scrambling host of greedy office seekers, had been for 
years unchecked indulging in unscrupulous speech ; for- 
getting that the President of the Republic is clothed with 
the mantle of the sacred and august sovereignty of a 
mighty nation, that he and his office, so long as it is his 
office, are in fact one and inseparable ; that to strike at 
him is to aim a blow at the honor and dignity, if not at 
the very life of the whole people. 

A distinguished author says, *' The horologue of time 
does not peal out the passage of one era to another ! " but 
I am persuaded that those awful death telling bells in the 
night of September 19th not only proclaimed the saddest 
event in our history ; but suddenly waked up the con- 
science and intellect of the nation, so that we have 
already entered a new era of political life that must be 
upon a higher plane than any that has gone before. Some 
of the signal characteristics of that era will be : Rever- 
ence for the Bible of our fathers ; reverence for marriage ; 
reverence for the ballot ; reverence for hard won noble 
personal character ; and reverence for the President — 
upon whom is imposed the great duty, under God, of 
guiding the nation onward in the path of freedom and 
righteousness — that the Government at Washington may 
live and not die ; and mayhap, ages on from now, hun- 
dreds ofmillions of happy people under the same old beau- 
tiful flag, may with gladness keep our Thanksgiving Day. 



MAN WRITES HIS LIFE FOR ETERNITY. 



" Had it been given me to write down my life 
Or only its beginning, but two lines, 
Upon a solid tablet of pure gold, 
How had I paused ! how pondered o'er the task ! 
But even now, as children on their slates 
Write what is easily effaced, each man 
Writes with light hand, but ineffaceably 
His life upon the heavy mass of days 
That towers behind us, dark, immovable. 
An up-piled cloudy wall of adamant, 
Infrangible, more solid than mere gold ; 
He writes it, as a fate, on human hearts, 
He writes it on his own with iron pen ! 
Then, writer ! think, create, engrave with care I 
The lullaby we sing the cradled child 
Preludes a picture of his coming days !'* 

— Gottlieb Schefer Brooks. 



(331) 



Christian Books 



PUBLISHED OR FOR SALE BY 



JOHN BURNS 



PuBLISHEI^ AND BoOKSELLER, 

717 and 719 OLIVE STREET, 
ST. LOUIS. 



> « t 



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Discounts allowed Preachers and Students. 

Send for New Catalogue of Sunday School Supplies, Bibles, 
Testaments, Commentaries, Etc. 



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Barclay, E. D.; A Hand-Book on Baptism % 50 

Baxter, William ; Life of Elder Walter Scott 2.00 

Life of Knowles Shaw 1 .00 

Braden, Clark ; The Problem of Problems 2.00 

Braden and Hughey Debate, Baptism ; the Action, De- 
sign and Subjects of, and the work of the Holy 

Spirit '. 2.00 

Brents, Dr. T. W.; The Gospel Plan of Salvation 2.50 

Butler, Marie R.; Riverside; or, Winning a Soul 75 

Grandma's Patience; or, Mrs. James' Christmas 

Gi f t 40 

Burnett, D. S. ; The Christian S. S. Library, 40 Volumes.12.00 

j^'-Send for New Catalogue of S. S. Supplies. 



2 JOHN BUKNS' CATALOGUE OF 

Campbell, Alexander ; Popular Lectures and Addresses, 

Cloth $3.00 

Sheep, Library Style 3.75 

Half Morocco, Gilt Edges 6.00 

Christian System 1.50 

Christian Baptism 1.00 

Christianity, Evidences of; a Debate between 

Robert Dale Owen and Alexander Campbell 1.50 

Familiar Lectures on the Pentateuch 1.50 

Living Oracles ; Pocket Edition 60 

Living Oracles ; Large Type Edition 2.50 

Memoirs of Elder Thomas Campbell 1.25 

Roman Catholic Religion : a Debate between 
Alexander Campbell and Right Rev. John B. 

Purcell 1.50 

The Christian Baptist ; Cloth 2.50 

The Christian Baptist ; Arabesque 3.00 

Campbell, Mrs. Alexander ; The Home Life and Remi- 
niscences of Alexander Campbell, by his Wife. 

Cloth 2.00 

Half Morocco, Gilt Edges 3.00 

Carlton and Moore Debate ; The Destiny of Man 1.50 

Carpenter and Hughes Debate; The Destiny of the 

Wicked 1.50 

Christopher, Dr. H. ; Man and his Redemption ; or The 

Remedial System ; Cloth 2.00 

Sheep, Library Style 2.50 

Christopher, Fanny H. ; Duke Christopher ; A story of 

the Reformation 40 

Church Supplies. Furnished at lowest market prices 
at time of order. 
Baptismal Suits. Very best material at lowest 

price. Always give size of boot worn. 
Books of Church Letters, containing blank forms 
with stub for memorandum. The neatest 
and most convenient published. 

One Hundred Blank Forms 1 00 

Fifty Blank Forms 60 




CHURCH SUPPLIES, ETC. d 

Church Supplies — Continued. 

Christian Church Register. With various spe- 
cial rulings and printed headings. Arrang- 
ed byR. Moffit $3.00 

Church Record. A cheap and convenient book 
in which to record the Name of Members, 
Date of Admission. How Admitted and Re- 
marks. Contains places for -960 names 1.00 

The Standard Church Register and Record with 
Register for Membership, Elders, Deacons, 
Ministers, Trustees, Clerks, Baptisms, 
Deaths and Marriages .'. 3.50 

Church Contribution Record. With special rul- 
ings and printed headings. Designed ex- 
pressly for keeping systematic account of 

weekly contributions. Forty pages 1.00 

Eighty pages 1.50 

Contribution Envelopes. Good White Paper. 
Size, 21x4^ inches. 

Printed, per thousand, only 2.00 

Plain, per thousand 1.25 

Contribution Pledge Cards. Five hundred 1.75 

Communion Sets. Send for special illustrated 

circular. 

HYMNALS AND HYMN BOOKS. 

A very animated discussion has been going on in our papers over the 
Hymn Book Question. The result is that we have the cheapest and best 
books (for the money) that can be had. Now, not only are the churches 
supplied with well bound books at an extremely low price, but those who 
desire a fine binding can get it v/ithout fancy prices. 

Churches wishing to adopt new books will be furnished with sample 
copies of both the Revised Hymnal and The New Christian Hymn and 
Tune Book that both may be examined and choice made. Books not 
wanted can be returned, transportation both ways to be paid by person 
ordering. 

Examine honestly, judge righteously, and then send your order to John 
Burns for whatever book you may want, and "make a joyful noise unto 
the God of our Salvation.' 

"Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be 
blameless and harmless, the sons of God." 



4 JOHN BURN-S' CATALOGUE OF 

THE NEW CHRISTIAN HYMN AND TUNE BOOK. 

Compiled by Prof. James H. Fillmore, assisted by L. H. Jameson, 
J. H. Rosecrans, J. P. Powell, J. R. Murray, E. S. Lorenz, T. C. O'Kane 
and Fred Fillmore. 

The book is divided into two parts. Part I, containing the old standard 
hymns and tunes. Part II contains the popular hymns of the Gospel 
songs variety, and is specially adapted for use in Prayer Meetings, Sunday 
Schools and Protracted Meetings. The book is full of sacred songs 
selected from the vast treasure-house of Christian psalmodj'. It is meet- 
ing with hearty approval of many who desire pure, fervent congregational 
worship. It is having a very extensive sale. 

WORD AND TUNE EDITION. 

Bound in cloth, red edges, sewed on tape, single copy 

by mail $ 60 

Per dozen, by express 6.00 

'' '' " mail 7.20 

Plain Cloth, flexible binding, same price as above. 

Sheep embossed 75 

French Morocco, red edges 1.00 

French Morocco, flexible 1.00 

Morocco Gilt 1.40 

Turkey Morocco, Extra Gilt 3.00 

Circuit Morocco 5.00 

CHEAP EDITION 

Bound in boards (wire stitched,) single copy, by mail.. . 35 

Per dozen, by express S.60 

'* " " mail 4.20 

WORDS ONLY EDITION. 

Bound in boards, single copy by mail 25 

Per dozen, by express . . 2. 40 

" " " mail 3.00 

Bound in cloth, single copy by mail 35 

Per dozen, by express 3.60 

" " " mail. 4.20 

WORDS ONLY (Large Print). 

Bound in Sheep ; Single copy post-paid 1.00 

Per dozen (sent at cost of buyer) 9.00 



CHURCH SUPPLIES, ETC. 5 

TEACHER'S WORD AND TUNE EDITION. 

A matter of first importance to the Church of Christ is, that her mem- 
bers be taught to sing her psalmody. No matter to what perfection she 
may attain in her Collections of Hymns and Tunes, their greatest per- 
fections remain a dead letter to the mass of disciples, because no adequate 
means is provided for their learning them. 

The need of the times is, that we have some feasible plan for teaching 
congregations, as such, the art of simjing for worship. The author claims 
that this need is fully met in the Teachers' Edition of the >iEW Chris- 
tian Hymn and Tune-Book. 

It is a collection of superior hymns and tunes, presented in the simplest 
form of notation, with the necessary preparatory lessons and exercises for 
teaching and learning to sing. In a word, it is a complete Hymn and 
Tune-Book, presented in the form of a perfect manual of instruction for 
teaching congregational singing. 

It contains all the matter of the Hymn and Tune-Book, the pages and 
numbers of the hymns corresponding, so that no confusion can arise from 
using the books together. It also contains rudiments and exercises for 
Singing-Schools, and a selection of Anthems. 

Price, Single copy $ 90 

Per dozen, by express 9.00 

Per dozen, by mail 10.80 

Orders promptly filled. Correspondence with agents and singing 
teachers solicited. Good terms oflfered. 

THE CHRISTIAN HYMNAL. REVISED— 1882. 

The new Hymnal contains 320 octavo pages, printed from new electro- 
type plates, on tinted and super calendered paper. 

No. 1. Cloth, red edges $ 75 

Per dozen, by express 7.50 

Per dozen, by mail 8.75 

No. 2. Silk Cloth, extra embossed sides, new stamp, bev- 
eled boards, vermillion edge polished, sewed on 
tapes, blank book style, giving a more flexible 

and stronger back 1.20 

No. 3. Same as No. 2, with morocco back 1.50 

No. 4. Same as No. 2, full morocco 2.60 

No. 5. Morocco Antique, gilt edge 3.25 

No. 6. Morocco, full gilt 3.75 



6 JOHN burns' catalogue of 

CBtEAP EDITION. 

A cheap edition, bound in boards, printed on cheap paper. 

Single copy, by mail , . . | 50 

Per dozen, by mail 5.80 

Per dozen, by express 4.80 

WORD EDITION. 

Contains all the hymns of the Revised Hymnal, with corresponding 
numbers, but no music. 

Bound in Silk Cloth, red edge | 50 

Per dozen, by express 4.80 

Per dozen, by mail 5.40 

Bound in English cloth , plain edge 35 

Per dozen, by express 3.60 

Per dozen, by mail 4.20 

Bound in boards 25 

Per dozen, by express 2.40 

Per dozen, by mail 3.00 

Christian Hymnal — Old edition. Price list furnished 
when desired. 

Christian Hymn Books. Large supply on hand. Prices 
furnished when desired. 

Pulpit Bibles. To meet the frequent demand for Bibles 
especially suited for pulpit use, we are prepared 
to ship on receipt of order the following styles. 

American Morocco, Antique, Sprinkled edges 5.00 
English Levant, Antique style. Gilt Edges. . 7.50 
Turkey Morocco 10.00 

Large clear type, excellent paper, fine printing and strongly bound. 
They contain none of the extra features, illustrations or illuminations 
found in our fine line of Family Bibles, and are so desirable in the home 
circle, but which are objectionable in a Pulpit Bible. A large assortment 
of Family, Teachers' and Pocket Bibles . Send for price lists. 

Challen, James; Koinonia; or, the Weekly Contri- 
bution $ 40 

Coop and Exley ; A Trip Around the World 1.50 



CHRISTIAN BOOKS, ETC. 7 

Collins, Dr. Aimer M., A. M.; Prohibition vs. Personal 
Liberty ; or, The Liquor Traffic Examined in the 
Light of Science, Theology, and Civil Govern- 
ment, Paper $ 35 

Cloth 50 

Bible Temperance, Paper 40 

Cloth ,. 1.00 

Contradictions of Orthodoxy ; or, The Chicago 

Controversy over Salvation, Paper 25 

Cloth 50 

The Great Living Issue. A series of addresses 
bearing upon temperance issues as now 
being agitated in many States, especially in 

the great West, Paper 35 

Cloth 50 

Cory, N.E.; The Polymathist 2.00 

Davies, Mrs. Eliza ; Story of an Earnest Life 2.00 

Dungan, D. R.; On the Rock ; or. Truth Stranger than 

Fiction , 1.50 

Rum, Ruin, and the Remedy 1.00 

Modern Phases of Skepticism 1.50 

Errett, Isaac ; Walks about Jerusalem 1.50 

Talks to Bereans 1.00 

Letters to a Young Christian, Paper 35 

Cloth 75 

Ezzell, S. R.; The Great Legacy, Cloth 1.50 

Arabesque 2.00 

Foy, Joseph H.; Supplementary Chapter on Modern 
Revivalism in Walsh's "Moody's Theology Ex- 
amined," Paper , 25 

Cloth 50 

Francis, Margaret ; Rose Carleton's Reward 1.00 

Franklin, Benjamin ; Gospel Preacher, Vol. 1 2.00 

Gospel Preacher, Vol. 2 2.00 

Reynoldsburg Debate . 1.00 



8 JOHN burns' catalogue of 

Franklin, Joseph, and Joel A. Headington ; The Life 
and Times of Benjamin Franklin, Editor of the 

American Christian Review. Cloth |2.00 

Sheep, Library Style 2.50 

Turkey Morocco, Full Gilt 4.00 

A Book of Gems ; or. Choice Selections from 

the Writings of Benj . Franklin. Cloth 2.00 

Sheep, Library Style 2.50 

Turkey Morocco, Full Gilt 4.00 

Garfield, President James A.; The Great Speeches of 
President Garfield, with a Memorial Supplement, 

Cloth 3.00 

Sheep, Library Style 3.75 

Half Morocco, Cloth Sides, Gilt Edges 5.00 

Garfield, Life of President ; by William Ralston Balch, 
editor of The American, etc. Printed on finely 
calendered paper, richly illustrated, elegantly 

bound in English Cloth, 760 pages 1.50 

Venetian Morocco 2.50 

Revised Edition; Profusely illustrated and 
printed on very fine paper. Decidedly the 
best life of the late President that has been 
published. Choice silk -faced cloth, Gilt 

Edges 3.00 

Full Morocco 5.00 

Garrison, J. H.; The Heavenward Way; or, Words to 

Young Converts, Limp Cloth 35 

Stiff Cloth 50 

Green, Frank M.; The Ministers' Manual, for the use of 
Church Ofiicers in the various relations of 
Evangelists, Pastors, Bishops and Deacons, 

Cloth 1.00 

Flexible Morocco, Gilt Edges 1.50 

The Standard Sunday-School Manual 1.00 

Life of President Garfield, Cloth 1.50 

Half Morocco 2.50 



CHRISTIAIT BOOKS, ETC. 9 

Griffith, Prof. A. A.; Class Book of Oratory $1.50 

Climax Series, No. 1, Paper 30 

Boards 50 

Hall, Alexander Wilford; Problem of Human Life, 

Cloth 2.00 

Sheep, Library Style 2.50 

Universalism Against Itself. This book h as been 
thoroughly revised by the author, Cloth — 1.00 

Hand, G. R.; D.B. Ray's Text Book on Campbellism Ex- 
posed 1.00 

Hardin, J. H.; The Sunday-School Helper 50 

Hartzell, Jonas ; The Baptismal Controversy 1.50 

The Divinity of Christ, Paper 75 

Hayden, Amos Sutton; Early History of the Disciples 

in the Western Reserve 2.00 

Hinsdale, B. A., A. M.; Genuineness and Authenticity 

of the Gospels 1.25 

Ecclesiastical Tradition 75 

President Garfield and Education 1.50 

Jaganatha, Pandita ; The Story of Nala and Damayanti. 
An Indian legend, preserved in the arch- 
ives of Hindoostan ; Translated from the 
Sanskrit into English prose 25 

Johnson, B. W.; A Vision of the Ages 1.25 

McGarvey, Prof. J. W.; Commentary on Acts 1 .50 

Commentary on Matthew and Mark, Cloth 2.00 

Lands of the Bible, Cloth 3.00 

Sheep 3.50 

Half Morocco 4.00 

McLean, Archibald ; The Commission, Paper 40 

Cloth 75 

Martin, J. L.; Voice of Seven Thunders 1.50 

Mathes, J. M.; Western Preacher 2.00 

Life of Elder E. Goodwin 1.25 



10 JOHN burns' catalogue of 

Milligan, Robert; Analysis of the Four Gospels and 

Acts $2.00 

Commentary on Hebrews 2.00 

Reason and Revelation 2.00 

The Scheme of Redemption 2.00 

Great Commission 1.00 

Missouri Christian Lectures, 1882 1.00 

Monser, J. W.; An Encyclopedia on the Evidences or 

Masterpieces of Many Minds, Cloth 3.00 

Sheep, Library Style 3.50 

Half Morocco, Gilt Edges 6.00 

Types and Mataphors of the Bible 

Moore, W.T.; Views of Life .. 1.50 

The Pulpit of the Christian Church 3.00 

Munnell and Sweeney Debate : Shall Christians go to 

War ? 1.00 

New Testament Commentary. To be completed in eleven 
volumes. Three volumes now ready. 

Vol. I, Matthew and Mark, by J. W. McGarvey, 

Vol. II, Luke, by J. S. Lamar. 

Vol. IX, Hebrews, by R. Milligan. 

Price per volume, cloth 2.00 

Sheep • 2.50 

Half Calf 3.00 

Pinkerton, L. L.; Bible Questions 25 

Radford, B. J.; The Court of Destiny, and other Poems 1.00 
Randall and Sleeth Debate: Holy Spirit in Conversion. . 1.00 

Reynolds, Pres. J. C; The Moberly Pulpit 75 

Richardson, Dr. Robert; Memoirs of Alexander Camp- 
bell, two volumes, Cloth 4.00 

Sheep 5.00 

Half Morocco 7.00 

Two volumes in one, cloth 3.50 

Sheep 4.00 

Communings in the Sanctuary 1.00 

Office of the Holy Spirit 1.50 



CHRISTIAN BOOKS, ETC. 11 

Roe, Wm. M.; Bible vs. Materialism 25 

Rogers, John ; Biography of John T. Johnson 1.5C 

Rogers, John J.; Autobiography of Elder Samuel Rogers 

Cloth 1.00 

Scott, Walter ; The Messiahship 1.5G 

Schackleford, Prof. John ; Life, Letters and Addresses 

of Lewis L. Pinkerton 1.50 

Symposium on the Holy Spirit ; by A. B. Jones, G. W. 
Longan, Thomas Munnell, J. Z. Taylor, and 

Alexander Campbell 75 

Smith, Butler K.; Serial Discourses 1:50 

Smith, Prof. A. F.; Earnest Leighton 1.25 

Tyler, J. Z.; Kinship to Christ and other Sermons, CI. 1.50 

Half Morocco, Gilt Edges 2.60 

Walsh, John T.; Looking down the Ages from a Pro- 
phetic Standpoint 1.25 

A Book of Sermons 1.50 

Moody's Theology Examined, Paper 25 

Cloth 50 

Wilkes and Ditzler Debate: What is Christian Baptism? 

Cloth 2.00 

Williams, John Augustus : Life of Elder John Smith.. . 2.00 



CANVASSERS WANTED EVERYWHERE 

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Great good is now being: accomplifehed, and much more can be, by ener 

getic men and women, in getting the people to buy and read 

good Christian Literature. 

Libera/ Commissions allowed to Active Workers. 

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Christian Ministers' Manual, 

For the use of 
In the various relations of 

Evangelists, Pastors, Bishops, and Deacons, 

By F. M. GREEN. 

This work has met with the hearty approval of many of our leading 
brethren, as a work that would have been of very great assistance to 
them, especially in their early ministry, and now supplies a long felt 
want. 

Sent by mail, free of charge, at the following prices : 

Bound in English Cloth, $1.00 

" " Morocco, flexible, gilt edges, 1.50 



Kinship to Christ, 

By J. Z. TYLER. 

This Book of Sermons fills a place not occupied by any other, and will 
be heartily welcomed by all who desire to "grow in grace, and the knowl- 
edge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Its title is taken from the 
first sermon in the collection, and at the same fitly describes the general 
character of all the sermons that follow. 

The great variety of the subjects aflbrds food for both saint and sin- 
ner. Each subject is handled in such a fresh. Scriptural, pointed and 
practical manner, making the volume decidedly interesting and instructive. 

Brother Tyler's manner of handling a text is peculiar. He is both in- 
teresting and fascinating, and holds his audience or reader almost spell- 
bound from beginning to end. 

The book is gotten up in a neat and substantial manner. 

Bound in English Cloth, 81.50 

Half Morocco, gilt edges, 2.50 

)8®"Canvassers wanted everywhere. Address 

JOHN BURNS, Publisher, 

717 & 719 Olive St., St. Louis. 



/^ 



